Crossing of the Paths
by MMMAJ
Summary: Mewtwo can no longer stand living with humans, so he creates a dimensional portal and randomly wanders the web of infinite universes. This is the tale of the places he sees and the people he meets. T for violence and swearing later on. Pokemon:Zelda
1. Part 1: Mewtwo's Story

**The Crossing of the Path**s  
By MMM/AJ**  
Part I: The story of Mewtwo**

(Author's Note: The prologues will contain a summary of Mewtwo's origin and troubles with Giovanni, so if you are already knowledgeable on this, you may want to skip it.)

**Prologue**

In a parallel universe not unlike our own, there is a small, blue planet, similar to ours in every detail, except one: humans live alongside intelligent and powerful creatures known as Pokemon. These animals come in infinite varieties. Some can swim, some can fly, some breathe fire, and others have power over plant life. But the specific Pokemon this tale is centered on is of one of the most mysterious types of Pokemon, psychic.

His name is Mewtwo, and unlike the other Pokemon, he was not born, but created. His story is lined with rage, sorrow, and mystery. Like our Earth, the Earth that Pokemon and men shared also housed corruption, hate, and evil. A certain man by the name of Giovanni was horribly abused as a child, and as a result, he grew up a twisted, malicious man. He planned to steal all rare and powerful Pokemon, and use them to dominate the world. To his dismay, it never seemed to work, that is until scientists made an amazing breakthrough: cloning. Giovanni had been one of the few men of that world who believed in the existence of the ancient and powerful Pokemon, Mew. Giovanni funded a scientific expedition to seek out any physical remains of Mew. The expedition proved successful. A fossil Mew hair was found, and Giovanni then made the scientists attempt to clone Mew. But after several failures, Giovanni got a new idea in his sinister head: he would have the scientists create super-clones more powerful than anything ever seen.

It would be almost a year and a half before the experiments bore fruit. They produced a living super-clone they called Mewtwo. Mewtwo had powers and intellect greater than anyone could imagine, and a very, very volatile personality. As Mewtwo awakened in the stasis tube, his first thought was: "What is my destiny...What is my purpose?" The scientists treated Mewtwo as the end result of an experiment, and he was deeply hurt and angered. He destroyed the laboratory, and in his delusions, vowed to destroy all human kind, and then Giovanni arrived. The two formed an unholy alliance: Giovanni would teach Mewtwo to effectively harness his powers, and Mewtwo would help Giovanni dominate the world!

But the alliance would not last. When the training Mewtwo underwent eventually ended, Giovanni treated Mewtwo as a slave. Mewtwo destroyed Giovanni's mansion and left. He was once again standing alone, consequently he was convinced that all humans are evil and that the Pokemon humans train for battling are mindless slaves. Mewtwo built a laboratory on the island the scientists originally used to clone him. Mewtwo created a catastrophic storm that would systematically destroy life on Earth, while luring a few elite Pokemon trainers to the island. When he defeated these trainers, he stole their Pokemon and cloned them. Soon, a veritable Pokemon war erupted on the island, between the originals and the super-clones. And, in a twist of fate, a Mew appeared out of the air, and tried to talk some sense into Mewtwo. Mewtwo resented this, and began to fight with Mew. As the minutes of violence passed, Ash, one of the trainers, was horrified. "This wasn't the way Pokemon are supposed to fight!" he thought. As Mew and Mewtwo fired devastating bolts of psychic energy at each other, Ash, with his pure heart, charged in between the beams shouting: "STOP!" Ash was immediately engulfed in the explosion, and was turned to stone.

Mewtwo's head was filled with a storm of confusion. Here, a human, who he thought was nothing more than a cruel slave driver, sacrificed himself to stop the fighting! And before Mewtwo's eyes, the boy's Pikachu began weeping in sorrow for his death. The rest of the Pokemon did so as well, including the clones. Mewtwo realized that he was horribly wrong for doing what he did, and erased the memories of all people involved and returned them to normal. Then he, the clones, and Mew left to seek out a new haven.

**Prologue (Part II)**

Mew soon left; he was going to go back into his mysterious slumber. Mewtwo found a safe haven in Purity Canyon, a beautiful plateau surrounded by jagged mountains and constantly ravaged by storms. Surely this place would prove to be a safe haven, untouched by humans? Unfortunately, it wouldn't. Giovanni returned with a large force and took some of Mewtwo's clones hostage. Wanting peace, Mewtwo submitted himself to Giovanni's control machines. Giovanni's plan was coming full circle now. He would use the super-clones to create an army of mindless super-Pokemon with Mewtwo at its head, and he would lead them to conquest!

Giovanni then began construction of a clone lab in the crater. But either out of luck or of fate, the same trainer, Ash, showed up, and helped Mewtwo escape the control machines. Mewtwo joined forces with Ash and the local wild Pokemon to banish Giovanni from the canyon. Mewtwo then erased Giovanni's memory so these events could never repeat themselves.

Mewtwo then spread the clones out across the world, each living where and how it wanted. He left the memory of Ash and his friends intact so they could be friends. Mewtwo left the crater in search for answers. He wanted to know the purpose of his being alive. He wanted the answers no one could find. So he wandered the world by the light of the moon.

**Chapter I**

We join Mewtwo as he sits on the top corner of an apartment building in one of the numerous color-themed cities in the land; Saffron City. He watched the rivers of light flow through the concrete causeways of the city streets, wondering why humans act the way they do. The white, green, yellow and red lights were mesmerizing. Thoughts flooded through his mind. As the hours passed, Mewtwo dissected and analyzed the social system of modern society in his mind, trying to make sense of how humans think and work. He tried reading the minds of a few passers by, but he got hardly any answers. The noise of the late night traffic didn't bother him, but rush hour was such a din that he avoided the cities at night. In fact, he avoided all populated areas during the day, to avoid being discovered. If he were to be seen, some trainer with a big ego would think he could capture Mewtwo, and more would follow. Mewtwo grew tired of sitting around, so he flew over to the nearby park. Since he would use his psychic powers to fly anywhere he liked, his legs had gotten lazy, so he decided to go for a walk and get the kinks out of them.

"Ouch, so this is what a cramp feels like." He thought, wobbling in his step. As he passed through, he noticed a group of wild Pidgey in a tree, snoozing. They looked so peaceful and tranquil, and he envied them. They were right where they belonged, and Mewtwo felt out of place. He continued walking, getting used to the motions. Suddenly, Mewtwo jumped behind a bush just as a person walked by. But he was off his guard, and hadn't jumped soon enough. The person saw the bushes move as Mewtwo landed. "Who's there?" The man shouted. Mewtwo used his powers to erase the portion of the man's memory that heard the bushes rattle, and the man shook his head in confusion, and then walked on.

"That was too close," Mewtwo thought, "I had better not let my guard down like that again." Normally Mewtwo would open his mind to the thoughts of others so he could sense when people got close, but he had been distracted and was focusing on keeping his balance on his tipsy legs. He floated out of the bushes and landed back on the walkway. "I can't have this keep happening... I must find a place where I can think without being disturbed." Mewtwo floated up into the air, and flew aimlessly away from Saffron City.

Mewtwo landed on a small rock sticking out of the tranquil sea. He settled down as best as anyone could if they were sitting on a rock the size of a dinner plate. He stared down at the glassy sea and the reflection of the full moon. A small tide of ripples lazily drifted across the surface, distorting the image of the moon. A lone Magikarp was swimming along the surface, scavenging. Mewtwo watched its movements as it glided through the water. It slowed to a stop, and was suspended on the surface. Mewtwo heard a whooshing high up, and looked up to see a Pidgeot floating through the air. It looked down with its sharp eyes and spotted the Magikarp floating asleep in the water. It pulled into a dive, dropping like a rock toward the water. It pulled back just before hitting, grazed the surface, and shot back up with the Magikarp in its sharp talons. "Ah...survival of the fittest," Mewtwo thought, "It makes me wonder, how did humans survive their earlier years? They had no natural weapons. No claws, no fangs, and no protective skin coatings." Mewtwo bounced this around his head for a while, but he saw a light approaching far in the distance. He formed an air bubble and slowly submerged. He used his powers to stop the ripples on the surface. He watched as a speedboat flew across the surface, followed by a coast guard patrol boat with its sirens on.

Mewtwo watched as both boats screamed off into the distance, then resurfaced. "I guess I'll move to a different spot." He dissipated the air bubble, and then flew off, looking for another quiet spot. The beautiful ocean sped by below him, followed by farmland. He saw the farmers getting up out of bed to start the day's work. "It must be getting close to sunrise" Mewtwo thought.

The pink of the sunrise was visible in the sky as Mewtwo settled into a far out forest. Mewtwo cloaked himself as a group of wild Pokemon approached. They were a group of bug Pokemon, Weedle. They crawled from branch to branch, causing quite a disturbance. A few Spearow flew up, rustled out of their nests. They squawked angrily and flew off. The Weedle then crawled down a tree trunk to feed on sprouts. Mewtwo couldn't help but smile. But a roaring sound was heard nearby. Suddenly, a tree that was merely feet away came crashing down! It landed right next to the Weedle. A big, fat lumberjack stood where the tree did. "Ya' better git yer butts outta here ya dang Weedle! This forest's been marked fer loggin'!" He shouted in a harsh tone. The Weedle ran in fear, but a baby was left behind. It was too slow. "Come on stupid thing, I ain't got all day!" The lumberjack shouted. He raised his foot and kicked the baby Weedle. It sailed out of sight, squealing in pain and terror. "Ha ha ha!" The lumberjack chuckled, "That'll teach them dumb animals to git in da way of progress!"

This was all Mewtwo could handle, with his really short temper, and he blew out of his cloak and glowed in his fury. "How dare you!" He blasted in his psychic voice. The lumberjack fell backwards, his eyes as wide as saucers. "When you mess with one Pokemon, you mess with all of them!" Mewtwo raged. He grabbed the lumberjack with his powers and squeezed him. The lumberjack screamed in pain. Mewtwo loosened his grip, so as not to kill the man. "See how it feels!" Mewtwo said, and psychically kicked him, over and over. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! I'm sorry, ouch, I won't ouch do it ouch again, ouch!" "I must go now, but remember, I'll be watching you, and if you harm another Pokemon or tree, I'll be there!" Mewtwo then cloaked, and dropped the man. The lumberjack ran off and told his boss what happened. Mewtwo followed him, and was happy to see the foreman to put up a sign that said; "Logging project canceled"

**Chapter II**

By now, it was full dawn, and Mewtwo was getting sleepy. "Another night wasted." He thought. He flew back towards his lair, which was a small cave with its entrance hidden underwater. It still had air pressure, keeping it from flooding. Mewtwo used his usual air bubble to get in, and then collapsed exhausted on a pile of hay. It wasn't long before he slipped into his dreamless sleep.

But something was going to happen to screw everything up, as a couple of scuba divers came across the cave's entrance. They climbed up through the cave and poked their heads above the surface. They saw Mewtwo sprawled across his bed, snoozing like a baby. "Wow Larry! Look at that Pokemon! I wonder what kind it is." "I'm no trainer, but I can guess it's not a water Pokemon. Look, no fins, no gills, and it looks like it walks on its hind legs!" Mewtwo stirred, and the divers ducked back under. They waited a couple of minutes before poking their heads up for another look. It had rolled over, but was still asleep. "We had better not wake it up, it looks powerful." Larry said. "We should tell Professor Oak about this!" the other diver said. "Right!" They both dove below the surface and back towards the boat.

A couple hours later, in the middle of the day, three more scuba divers appeared at the entrance of Mewtwo's lair. They were Professor Oak and his two aids. "Wow! Look at that Professor! This is one for the record books!" The shorter aid said. "Amazing, I'll get out my Pokemon scanner." The professor said, pulling out a device that looked like it came out of Star Trek. He pressed a button and it whirred softly. "It indicates a Pokemon of the Psychic type… and wow! Its power is off the scale! This thing has the ability to do just about anything it wants with that kind of power! It could make things very uncomfortable for us, too, if it were to discover us." The Professor said, inching back underwater.

Mewtwo awoke to the familiar sound of a Houndour Pokemon howling at the moon. This was like an alarm clock to Mewtwo, signaling nightfall. Mewtwo rubbed his eyes and sat up. He floated out of his cave to find a town or city where he could steal breakfast. He came across a large group of campsites not too far from the lake his lair was located at. "That's odd," he thought. "They weren't here last night." He flew down to one, finding the inhabitant asleep. Mewtwo shuffled through his bag, and found a can of sweet corn and a can of hash browns. He took them and flew out of the tent. He was greeted by a chorus of men shouting: "There it is!" Mewtwo dropped the canned food and flew up above the heads of all the people. "Oh no! How did this happen?" A flurry of Pokeballs flew up towards Mewtwo, and he raised a psychic shield and deflected them. "Leave me alone!" Mewtwo shouted, trying to fly through the clouds of nets and Pokeballs that the excited trainers were throwing at him. Mewtwo tried teleporting away, and it worked for the moment. But the searching trainers found him 15 minutes later. Mewtwo had to cloak himself and teleport away again to get away.

"I must have been discovered in my sleep," Mewtwo thought. "Someone must have found me and spread the word to other trainers." Mewtwo sat atop a boulder on the side of Mt. Moon, thinking of how to get away from the humans. He was engrossed in his thoughts, not paying attention to the outside world, when a rustling in the bushes behind him was heard. He turned around, to see a black Pokeball speeding toward him. He dodged to the side, and saw a trainer approach. He wore a long purple shirt, blue jeans, and a ying yang necklace. "You're pretty fast to dodge that!" He said. "And you're pretty sneaky to get that close to me!" Mewtwo replied. They both stood there, power-staring at each other, neither backing down.

"Draw!" The trainer shouted, tossing another black Pokeball. Mewtwo countered with a small ball of psychic energy. The Pokeball hit it and exploded in midair. Mewtwo smiled his dastardly smile. "Not bad," the trainer said. "How about this?" He drew several more Pokeballs out, threw them, and they spread out in the air, surrounding him in a circle. They all converged at once, and Mewtwo simply raised his shield, frying all of them. "Your attempts at capturing me prove amusingly futile, but I tire of it." Mewtwo picked him up with his psychic powers, and then flew him down to a nearby city, releasing him gently on a sidewalk.

**Chapter III**

Mewtwo gazed at the pink sunrise, wondering how many more trainers would come. He was sitting in the top of a tree, near the lake where his lair once sat. Since the scuba divers wouldn't leave him alone, Mewtwo had moved his meager little pile of straw into a thicket of trees in the forest on the banks of the lake. So far, up to 32 trainers had tried to capture him through the night, each one just as stubborn and thickheaded as the last. Luckily, none had found his new lair, but he doubted it would be long before they did. It had been three days since meeting the purple shirted trainer on the mountain, and his counterparts had been relentless since then.

"Aha! There it is!" a voice sounded below him. "Here we go again…" Mewtwo though, blocking the Pokeball that came up under him. He teleported away, worrying about the search the trainers would start in the area. If one were to find his lair, he could be caught in his sleep again. He was lucky whoever discovered him wasn't a trainer, or Mewtwo would've waken up to the inside of a Pokeball. So Mewtwo flew back to his lair, picked up his straw pile, cloaked, and teleported to another location.

He set the pile down in the center of a concrete room. He had cleaned out a junction in a sewer and turned it into a lair. He smiled to himself, knowing no one would find him there. He then settled down to sleep on the straw, watching the light of dawn play across the wall.

Mewtwo awoke on his own, way past the time he was used to. "Whoops, I must have slept in. I guess I got so used to sleeping in a wilderness area where the Houndour howl that when I moved here where there is no howling, I slept in." He thought. When he flew up out of a manhole, it was already well after dark. "I guess I'll have to steal myself an alarm clock." He thought, flying out towards the forest. He found that the large campsite near the lake had disappeared. He kept flying, and found that the spot in the thicket where his lair had been was filled with Pokemon researchers, with lots of equipment. "I'm glad I moved when I did." Mewtwo thought.

He looked for isolated human settlements, where he could steal some food, and found a small town. He flew down to a cozy looking house and used his powers to unlock a window from the inside. He pulled it open and climbed into a kitchen. He grabbed a bag of English Muffins and a packet of Cheese Crackers. He noticed a picture on the wall was crooked, and when he turned it right, it fell off the wall with a thump. "Uh oh, that's my cue to skidoo." He thought, teleporting out.

He sat on the roof of the same house he just came out of, chewing on an English muffin. It was cold and hard, but he didn't have time to put it in a microwave. He heard people walking around in the house, and some shouting. Mewtwo popped a cheese cracker into his mouth and listened in with amusement. "What kind of burglar steals a bag of muffins and some crackers?" A woman shouted inside. "A crazy one!" A man said. "Shouldn't we call Officer Jenny?" The woman shouted. "No, the Police wouldn't care about two articles of food being stolen, and besides, they're already busy trying to keep all the excited Pokemon trainers in line. After all the excitement over this really powerful Pokemon running around, there's been more than just a few 'Yikeses' and 'wows'!" The man replied.

This went on and on, so Mewtwo left. He had finished his food and didn't need to sit around any longer. He went to another house and pinched an alarm clock, then put it next to his straw pile. He then flew out into the wilderness, looking for another quiet spot. He landed on the edge on a steep cliff on the edge of Indigo Plateau. He watched the rush of excited trainers walk in and out of the double doors at the entrance to the building, each challenging the Elite Four, and coming out horribly beaten. The Mystery Master, who had now taken his place as the Ultimate Pokemon Master, seemed unbeatable.

Mewtwo saw the purple shirted trainer from a week ago enter. Two hours later, he exited the massive building, slumped and dejected. For the first time in his memory, Mewtwo's curiosity got the better of him. So he cloaked and followed a trainer inside. The trainer had his Pokemon healed by the Nurse in the Pokemon Center in the corner, then bought two-dozen bottles of Full Restore, a liquid designed to heal Pokemon. He then went through the doors and took on the first Elite Four Trainer, Will.

While the trainer was battling Will, Mewtwo read his mind and found out the trainer's name was Jeff. Jeff defeated Will with Ease, and then they both proceeded into the next room. This process repeated itself, each time facing the next Elite, until they reached the Master. He sat on a chair back in a curtained vestibule, looking menacing and foreshadowing. He said not a word, and tossed out his first Pokeball, revealing a shining Gyarados. It roared at Jeff, seemingly daring him to throw out his first Pokemon. Jeff happily obliged. Out came a Nidoking, which is a favorite among big-headed trainers, and Jeff told it to perform a horn drill attack. The horn on Nidoking's head began spinning, and Nidoking lunged at the shining Gyarados.

The Nidoking pushed into the Gyarados's front as hard as it could, until the horn on its head ground to a stop. Nidoking kept pushing, and the horn shattered. Nidoking stumbled backward, tears of pain in its eyes. Still not a word was heard from the Mystery Master, or Jeff. The Gyarados pulled its head back, and then blasted forward, releasing a gushing column of water from its mouth. It hit head on, knocking Nidoking out against the wall. The water drained through grates in the four corners of the room. Both trainers switched Pokemon. The Master released a shining Meganium. This was a plant type Pokemon. Jeff countered with a Typhlosion, a fire type. This gave him a type advantage.

Jeff ordered Typhlosion to use its flamethrower attack. It reared up and released a steady stream of flame from its mouth. Meganium jumped to the side, but the two antennae on top of its head were caught in the flame. They began to burn down towards the top of Meganium's head. Meganium began to stomp around and scream in panic. It tripped and fell over forward, snuffing out the flame as it reached the stem. Meganium climbed back onto its feet, and it looked angry. Out came two vines from its sides and it began whipping Typhlosion. Typhlosion flared up the flames on its back, and Meganium retreated its vines. It countered by releasing a cloud of sleep powder, filling the room. Jeff lifted his shirt up over his face, and the curtain drew around the Master, protecting him. Typhlosion tried to hold its breath, and lasted fifteen seconds before gasping and drawing a breath. It yawned and fell over, gently snoring.

Jeff snapped his finger and returned it. "This is my last bet." he thought to himself. He released an Alakazam. The Master returned his Meganium and released a shining Gengar. "Oh crap!" Jeff said aloud. Still the Master remained silent. Jeff ordered Alakazam to use hypnosis, and Alakazam's eyes glowed in the same manner as any other psychic Pokemon. The attack failed however, and Gengar remained awake. It then used a powerful Nightshade attack that blew Alakazam away in one blow.

Jeff frowned, and returned his Gengar. He walked up to the Master's pedestal where a tray sat. Jeff forked over half his money and left. Mewtwo tried to follow him out, but the door slammed closed. Mewtwo looked up at the Master, trying to catch a glimpse of his face before teleporting out. All he saw was darkness as the scenery changed to that of the darkness of night.

**Conclusion of Part I**

"I wonder how the Pokemon Master had shining Pokemon?" Mewtwo thought. Mewtwo was sitting on the edge of the plateau again, looking out upon Viridian City. The flow of trainers entering the building had ebbed for the moment, and things were peaceful in the twilight before dawn. A flock of Fearow flew before the orange sun as it slowly climbed up above the horizon. Normally Mewtwo would be going to bed by now, but he was tossing a whole new mess of issues around his head now. He watched as the morning rush filled the streets of Viridian City below, and a lone trainer approached the doors. But instead of going through the doors, he turned and looked Mewtwo right in the eyes. "I've found you again." He said. Mewtwo realized this was the purple shirted trainer from before. Mewtwo took this opportunity to ask him a question that had troubled him since the last time they met, "Why is it that you don't send a Pokemon out to weaken me before throwing your Pokeball?" "Simple," The trainer said, "Because I pack Master Balls! These things guarantee an instant capture!" The seriousness of this struck Mewtwo like a train. If a single one of those were to get inside his defenses, he would be captured for sure. Mewtwo floated up into the air, preparing to fly away from this risk. "Come back you coward!" The trainer shouted, "I guess being the most powerful Pokemon in the world doesn't mean you're not a chicken!"

Mewtwo's quick temper and common sense battled in his head, and the anger won out. "I will show you who's chicken, he said, forming an energy blade in his hand, and charging the trainer. The trainer simply answered with a single Master ball. Mewtwo sliced it in half with his energy blade, and stopped it just before the trainer's neck. But to his surprise, the trainer didn't cry out, didn't shake in fear, but just stood his ground. "Nice bluff." The trainer said, and he looked past Mewtwo's shoulder, where there was a Master ball hovering where he had thrown it earlier. It caught Mewtwo's tail, and that was the last thing he saw before being sucked in.

The inside of the ball was cold and dark. Mewtwo used his powers to illuminate it, and found a perfectly molded energy shield, never giving off a hint of light, never wavering. His rage was making him see red, and he felt the temperature inside the ball rise as his powers went out of control, and bent reality. He could not control himself at all, and formed a large red aura, which clashed with the energy field in the Master Ball.

The trainer immediately felt the Master Ball heat up, and he dropped it as it started glowing red hot. Small electric fields crackled around the ball as its small power generator overloaded. After about ten seconds, the power went out, and the whole ball exploded. Mewtwo reformed with his eyes glowing a blood red. "You shall pay with your life, ignorant fool!" Mewtwo screamed. The trainer grasped his head, crying out in agony as his brains fried in his head. He fell over, twitching a few times, and was still.

Mewtwo looked down on what he had done, and at once his anger was gone, he cried. He kneeled down before the young trainer, and cried. "What have I done?" He sobbed. "I cannot control my anger. Nobody is safe around me." He cried like this for almost an hour, unnoticed by humanity. When he finally regained his composure, he had one purpose in his mind; leaving that world, whether it meant dying, or traveling, he couldn't bear to see another human killed by his blind rage.

He flew out of the city, and into Viridian forest. He pondered all the different ways of leaving, and even seriously considered killing himself again, but repressed the urge. He decided he should use his powers to create a dimensional portal. He would search the dimensions for one where he could never hurt anyone. He took a minute to finalize the plans in his mind, and flew up into the air. He formed a psychic bubble around himself, and flew out into space. He knew that a dimensional portal would damage the planet if he opened it within its atmosphere. He flew out beyond the moon's orbit, and stopped. He concentrated a large amount of energy, his body glowing bright blue, so intensely that people back down on Earth could see him twinkling like a new star. He bent his consciousness around his effort to open the portal, and felt it beginning to form in front of him. It started as a pinpoint of light, and grew into a glowing circle, big enough for Mewtwo to fit through. It cycled with hundreds of different colors, in a beautiful swirl pattern. People back down Earth pointed up at the swirling star in the night sky, and marveled. Mewtwo took one last look back at the wonderful blue planet, and sent a psychic message back down to Ash, the trainer who had saved his life. "I am leaving now. I hope you're life is peaceful. Goodbye." He felt Ash's sadness, and wiped a tear from his eye as he entered the portal, which closed behind him.

A/N: Did you like this? This was one of the best things I wrote. Any and all reviews will be accepted, except flames, which will be burned (Fight fire with fire, I always say) But I hope you like this! I did finally get the paragraphs separated out, and I'm always working on the next chapter...that is, until the fic's finished.


	2. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 1

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ**  
Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the first chunk. Expect the second chunk by the end of June

Chapter I

_Ancient Gerudo prophets foretold a time of great sorrow, when all the land would be covered in the vile desert, and an empire of greed and corruption would arise. A dark wanderer would emerge from his travels, and his fate would intertwine with the destiny of the world._

And so the tunnel opened in all its glory. Mewtwo flew in free-fall, spiraling through infinity. The energy of the dimensions pulsed in the tunnel walls, like the heartbeat of a great beast. The swirling vortexes of energy formed a pattern, going in and out of each rip in the dimensional barrier. Perfect balance existed among the violent whirlwind of plasmatic energy.

Mewtwo stared in awe. The sheer scale of the energy and the infinity of it all boggled his mind. He went into a trance as he watched the maelstrom of plasma pulsate and jump through the known color spectrum and into unknown ones. He plummeted in free fall for hours, his mind overloaded and over stimulated. He never once thought of which rupture he would choose to enter in order to enter a new universe. The chaos and beauty filled his senses with fluid energy.

Still he fell, until a sudden irregularity in the energy flow broke his mind away from the infinity. One rupture in the wall of the tunnel was imbalanced. Instead of consuming and excreting an equal amount of energy, this one was sucking on the energy of the tunnel like a vacuum. The colorful, pulsating plasma was rushing down into it like a whirlpool. Mewtwo flew closer to investigate.

He immediately felt the drain. He felt his energy being pulled out of him faster than he could react. He started falling toward the whirlpool. He struggled horribly, pushing away from the hole, while trying to maintain his shield. Not only was the tunnel in a vacuum like space, the swirling plasma which had hypnotized him earlier would tear him to shreds if he fell into it. He would die quickly if his shield gave out, but it would be a very painful death.

Mewtwo felt his energy slipping away quickly. He then made a choice that saved his life. "If I continue to fight this, I will run out of energy, and the shield will give out. If I go through willfully, I might come out somewhere where there's air to breathe. I think it would be smart to go through." He thought. He let go of his control, and flew downwards into the rupture. The energy drain was overpowering. As he fell through the rupture, he looked up to see all the plasma following him down. A rather large sphere flew towards him at a high speed. He tried to adjust his position to dodge it, but he had barely enough energy to maintain his shield. The sphere struck the shield, and Mewtwo went black.

Chapter II

_The legend of the ancient magician was passed down from sacred mother to daughter in Gerudo tradition. It told of the eccentric old man and the young Gerudo princess, who could perform amazing acts of power and magic. The young princess had power over the minds of men, and the man had power over physical matter. They both traveled the vile desert together, dreams of love in their minds, until a day of great evil tore them apart. It is said that the princess, ravaged by grief, ran away from her people, into the Far East, never to be seen again._

Mewtwo slowly came back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, which immediately stung from dryness and sand, which had found its way into them. He rubbed them, and looked around. All around him were tall dunes of orange sand. They towered almost 8 feet above and around him, and the howling of a sandstorm raged over the top of the dunes. Mewtwo tried to stand up, but an injury of most severity in his leg brought itself to Mewtwo's attention. He cried out as the pain streaked up his bulbous hip. He looked down and saw bone sticking out of his left knee. Sand had gotten into the wound, and luckily, the bleeding was minimal. He also felt that his ankle was also broken, and the joint in his hip was out of place.

"I must have blacked out as I passed into this dimension," Mewtwo thought, "I fell all the way down to the surface, sustaining all the impact on this leg." He thought. "But one thing boggles me, how could I have survived a fall through space, then the atmosphere, then hitting the ground at such a high speed? I should have burnt up in the atmosphere without my shield, and even then, the impact would have turned me into a big purple pancake." He pondered the possibility of the rupture opening up near the planet's surface, but ruled it out as impossible since the tunnel is a vacuum and it would have hurt the planet's atmosphere.

Mewtwo didn't have long to consider this, though. The pain in his leg was unbearable. He tried to use his recover ability, but was denied when he felt all his energy gone. He could not heal himself, fly, create a shield or new dimensional rupture, or even talk! "So this is how I'm going to die?" He thought. "I'm going to pay with my life for recklessly flying towards an energy sinkhole. I guess this is fair punishment for my stupidity." He thought.

Mewtwo sat there, his ankle buried in sand, and his leg crippled, contemplating his demise. But a small sound in the constant howl of the sandstorm caught his attention. He listened intently, and heard it again. He recognized it as a human voice. His dark thoughts of his own death flew from his mind as he filled his lungs to shout back. He could not talk, but he could sure as heck bellow. And he did, as hard as he could. He waited a few seconds, and he heard an answer, a little more clearly. With thoughts of rescue, he guided the voice to him.

After 45 minutes, the voice was close enough for Mewtwo to not have to shout. He also recognized it as a female voice. He was surprised when the woman stepped over the rim of the crater of dunes. She was wearing a shawl over her head, a red cape, and gigantic parachute pants. She looked down at him. Mewtwo could not see her face, but he could tell she was shocked.

The woman suddenly shouted down at him. "Hello stranger! Are you friend or foe?" Mewtwo thought quickly on how to answer her. He knew his mouth could not speak, so he looked around, and picked up a stick. He wrote in the sand a message for her to read. "A friend in need." The woman walked down to him and read the message.

"Can you not talk?" She asked him. Mewtwo shook his head. "Not a single word?" She asked. Mewtwo wrote another message in the sand. "I'm mute." It read. "I see." The woman said. "What exactly are you?" She asked him. "It is a long story about my appearance." Mewtwo wrote. "I'll tell it to you once we are safe." Mewtwo wrote. "I'll bring you back to my village." The woman replied. "We can heal you there. With a leg like that though, I suppose you can't walk." She said. Mewtwo shook his head. "Very well then. I will haul you to the village, but you must help by supporting some of your weight on your unharmed leg." Mewtwo nodded.

Once the woman had gotten Mewtwo's leg freed from the sand, they both climbed up out of the crater and slogged through the desert. Mewtwo squeezed his eyes shut firmly to keep the sandstorm out. He hopped his right leg along the ground, keeping his left leg suspended, and the woman's arm around his shoulders. They were slow, but they made progress.

Mewtwo tried to distract himself from the pain. He looked up at the starry night sky, looking for familiar constellations. He could find none though, as no two universes had the same arrangement of stars. But stargazing was still one of Mewtwo's favorite pastimes, and that's what he did until they neared the village.

As they come up to the village, a guard in a lone tower shouted something down to them in a language Mewtwo didn't recognize. His guide shouted something back up to the guard in the same language, and the continued on into the village.

The village itself consisted of mud huts and animal skin tents. There were a few more watchtowers like the one that had hailed them earlier. The woman led them into a small mud hut. She gently laid him down on the straw bed in the corner, and said to him, "I am going to get our medicine woman and the sacred mother. You should stay here."

Mewtwo pondered his new predicament. He was out of immediate danger of being eaten or dehydrating, but if this chief decided he was dangerous or a demon, he could end up back out on his own again. He pushed his tail under the straw and laid down to conceal his head to body connection in the straw. He laid there, waiting, staring at the mud and straw roof.

Chapter III

_The Day of Great Evil is lamented by all who live to remember it. It was like any other day, the desert winds howled across the sands, and a small procession of workers crossed the dunes. Without guidance, they began building. At the end of the day, they had already finished constructing the vile towers which glistened in setting sun. By nightfall, they began with their foul work. They chugged like giant monsters, and began draining the world around them of all magic energy. The very essence of the world bent to supply them with power, and all who used magic found themselves powerless._

Three women walked into the hut. One was the woman who had led him to the village, one was wearing a belt with shining bottles, and one was wrinkled and old. The old one looked at him with pure amazement. "So…this is the creature you have brought here, Kalana?" She said.

"So that's what her name is…" Mewtwo thought.

"Yes this is it. I found it lying in a large crater with these severe injuries. It seems intelligent, but it is unable to talk." Kalana said.

"I see." The old one said. She walked up to the side of Mewtwo's bed. She scrutinized every inch of him with her eyes. Mewtwo felt very uncomfortable. The hut seemed to be excruciatingly hot, even though it was night, and his leg was beginning to swell and the pain was unbearable. She seemed to have examined him for hours.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" She asked him suddenly. He shook out of his glazed like state and nodded intently. She poked his knee, and the pain nearly caused him to black out. He groaned in pain. "I see. Fara, please help him. Kalana, please come with me." With that, the old one walked out, followed by Kalana. Fara eased over to Mewtwo's bedside.

Fara examined Mewtwo's leg thoroughly. "Looks like you got into quite a snit." She said. "At least a severe sprain in the ankle, the obvious bone displacement in the knee and shin, and a dislocated hip. This will take some time to heal." She said. She reached down to her belt and pulled out a bottle filled with red liquid. She popped out the cork and handed it to him.

Mewtwo gave her a confused look. "Oh yes, you probably don't know about potions do you?" She said. "It's quite simple, just drink it, and it will work to heal you. If you had just a flesh wound, it would heal instantly, but since bones are displaced, it will take some time. It will relieve most of the pain, but this is some injury, so it won't take care of all of it."

Mewtwo looked at the strange red liquid, and sat up and took a swig. He felt the effects almost immediately. It was an intoxicating warmth that spread throughout his body. It reminded him of the spring in Purity Canyon. He felt most of the pain stop, and the fog in his mind cleared. The room seemed to cool slightly, and his vision cleared. He drank the rest of the potion, and felt the world around him come back into focus. He felt invigorated, and tried to sit up, only to get a jolting reminder that it wouldn't block all the pain. He fell back into the bed.

"There. Now make sure to stay in bed for the rest of the morning, and don't try to get up. Most likely it will take all morning and most of tomorrow to heal." Fara said. Mewtwo smiled appreciatively, and Fara walked out.

Mewtwo tried to relax. The howling winds outside rattled the walls of his little hut, and the pink line of dawn appeared on the horizon outside his door. He yawned heavily, and suddenly voices caught his attention. He heard Kalana and the elder talking outside his hut. He couldn't help but to listen in.

"Are you sure this is wise?" The old one said.

"Trust in my judgment, honorable Mother, I can tell he is trustworthy." Kalana said.

"Why does he not speak? This is the same way of the monsters of old. They understood speech, but did not talk. I do not think this is wise."

"Trust me elder. I know what I am doing." Kalana said.

Mewtwo was jolted by a sound he hadn't heard in years, the crowing of a rooster. He shook his head and noticed that it was indeed dawn. He laid back and closed his eyes. A good day's sleep would help clear his mind, which was now a cluttered mess once again.

Mewtwo was again jolted awake by a blaring horn. His eyes darted around the room, and then he remembered, he was in a village in a desert in some odd dimension. He shook his head and looked down at his knee. He gasped with shock when he saw that the bone had retreated nearly all the way back into his knee. Not to mention the flesh around his knee was pink and healthy, not green and full of sand like it had been before he had fallen asleep. He looked out, and it was early evening. There was a column of armored soldiers standing in the village square. The elder, wearing a large headdress, shouted something in a strange language, and the column marched out of the village with a steady thump thump. Then Kalana poked her head into the hut.

"I see our raid woke you up. I'm sorry." She said, walking in. Mewtwo smiled sheepishly. "Your leg looks better. It should be fully healed before sunset." Kalana said. Mewtwo felt his ankle, and found it was completely healed. He rotated it with ease, and looked at his hip. The joint was also back in place. He moved his whole leg, and his face turned red with agony from the still fragile knee.

"Don't move that, or it will heal wrong." Kalana said. "So you are nocturnal?"

Mewtwo nodded. He made a note in the back of his head. She was a witty one, and he would do best to stay on her good side.

"You must have very well developed eyes." She said. "They are the deepest purple I've ever seen, along with your tail. I never got a chance to really see what you look like up close. Do you mind if I do now?"

Mewtwo nodded reluctantly. Normally, he thought of his appearance to be freakish and gigantic, but when a friend wanted to thoroughly inspect him, he felt like pulling a paper bag over his head. Kalana stared at him with the same intensity that the elder had early that morning.

When Kalana was satisfied, she looked up and stared Mewtwo in the eye. She seemed to probe right into Mewtwo's very soul, examining it in all its wretchedness. He hoped she was right about her judgments about him.

"You're not a demon at all, are you?" She asked, almost as if she didn't expect an answer at all. Mewtwo shook his head. "Your heart is not evil, but it is not pure either. I can tell you mean no harm to us. If only the elder felt the same way. I must tell you, she thinks you are a demon. She wants you expelled back out into the desert on your own to die. I will not let her, but your odd horns do not help." Kalana said.

Mewtwo was sick of not being able to talk. He made a writing gesture with his paws, and Kalana smiled. "You want to tell me something? I'll go get a pen and some parchment." She said, walking out. Mewtwo smiled again, feeling mildly content with his newfound friend. The fact that she trusted him pulled loads of stress off his mind, and suddenly, the bone in his leg pulled all the way in with a loud crack! Mewtwo was knocked back by another moment of searing pain, and he then felt the flesh grow over the hole where the bone had stuck out.

Mewtwo cautiously moved his knee. When no pain came, he moved it a little more, until it was flexed all the way. He laughed aloud happily and jumped to his feet. He danced around the inside of the hut, feeling euphoric. It was good to be mobile again. Kalana came back with a smile. "I see you are feeling a little better." She said. Mewtwo smiled gleefully, and sat down, taking the parchment and feather pen. He then began writing his life's story. It would take more than one sheet of parchment too.

Chapter IV

_The vile desert had been expanding long before the day of great evil, but when it came, the last few remnants of life in the world seemed to disappear. Only the wandering tribes and those who joined the empire remained. But legends say of a great forest that remains on the edge of the desert to the east, ever shrinking, ever diminishing, and leading down to the sea. This is where the legends say the young Gerudo princess fled to after her love was killed on the day of great evil. What lies across the eastern sea however, is a great mystery._

Mewtwo smiled with content while he watched the elder read through his life's short story. She seemed to register a little shock on her wrinkled face. She looked up from the reading for a second, and caught his eye. She seemed critical, like a health inspector going over a fast food joint. Mewtwo shuddered for an instant, and then the elder went back to reading.

Suddenly, she set the parchment pages on the ground and smiled at Kalana. "You were right my daughter. A demon of old could not write, and most certainly could not declare himself to be not a demon. It was against the laws of magic. You were right, he is not a demon."

Kalana smiled warmly. "You can tell by his eyes, elder. He does not have a black soul." She said.

The elder looked at Mewtwo with scrutiny again. "But I want you to teach him to speak. His odd horns and inability to talk will surely rile and scare the village goers if they should wander in here."

Mewtwo swallowed hard in hearing this. In the Pokemon world, it took years of rigorous training to make a Pokemon talk, and he didn't plan on staying here long enough to learn to talk, even though he was without his powers. He smiled sheepishly at the elder. She gave him a cold scowl, and for the first time, Mewtwo felt someone with a stronger will than his. He was thoroughly shaken.

Later that night, Mewtwo was in his hut with Kalana in his first talking lesson when the elder walked in. The traces of her coldness were gone. She smiled cheerfully.

"How are the lessons coming?" She asked.

"Not so well." Kalana said. "I think I've found out why he does not talk".

"Why is that?" the Elder asked.

"Look at his mouth. It is small and underdeveloped. I am amazed that he can even eat." Kalana said. "Show her."

Mewtwo leaned his head back and opened his small mouth. Once again he felt like a freak and wanted to disappear.

"I see. How do you eat anyways?" The Elder asked.

Mewtwo scribbled on his parchment: "I can eat like anyone else. I just take small bites."

The elder smiled again. "That makes sense. I'm sure you can learn. But I came in to talk to you about something else. Did you hear the horns blow this afternoon while you were asleep?" she asked.

Mewtwo nodded. He remembered, and this sparked his curiosity.

"They were the call to arms. Every few days we assemble together and go on a raid to the nearby imperial mine. We break in, steal food, and take the water from the pools nearby. The mines are odd things. They produce no pollution, and large pipes dump pure water out into the desert as a waste product. We have tried peacefully to negotiate deals with them, but for some odd reason they always shoot at us whenever we take water from the ponds of water they produce. So we randomly conduct raids to steal water and food. We do this to survive."

Mewtwo took it all in. This was truly a strange world where water was pollution and it was illegal to steal waste. His thoughts were interrupted by the elder.

"We have been doing this ever since they came and destroyed all the natural sources of water. It has been 500 years now since they were built. I remember I was still a young guard in training back then, and the legends of the princess and the warlock were still avidly told.

Mewtwo gave her a quizzical look, and scribbled on his parchment: "What is the legend of the princess and the warlock?"

The elder smiled warmly. "My my my, it's been nearly 100 years since I've told it. Well, let me try to remember." The elder said. She sat down on a chair and put her chin in her hands. She sat there silently for a long time, and then broke into the legend.

"In the days when the vile desert was still young, there lived a beautiful young Gerudo princess of another tribe. She was born with a great gift of magic; she could control minds with her words. If she commanded you to clean her house, you found yourself doing it. She was a fiery and headstrong young girl, still at the age of 40 on that fateful day she met the old man. She was on singular patrol duty when she met this odd old man, hunched over and wrinkled. He was polite and kind, and she brought him back to her village. There, he demonstrated his great magic power. He could manipulate physical matter at a whim. He flew stones around the perimeter of the village, and turned himself into a handsome young man. Of course, all the villagers were frightened beyond sense, and a small riot erupted. The tribe's elder stopped the riot, and banished the princess from her home village."

"Instead of using her power to gain back access to the village, she left with the warlock and they eloped. Whenever she wished it, the old man turned into a handsome young man, and love flourished. They traveled the desert together, simply on whims, with the warlock simply creating all the food they needed. They were both happy. Then the day of great evil came. A monstrous and powerful force conquered the Eastern kingdom on the edge of the desert, and sent slave laborers into the desert to build the mines. When the mines were activated, the warlock lost all of his powers while they were out in a stretch of desert, and he soon starved to death. In his last breath, he reached down towards his belt of gold, but before he could touch it, he died. The princess was devastated. She gave the warlock a decent burial and took his golden belt to remember him by. She then fled towards the east, hoping to find and destroy the empire. She hasn't been seen since."

The elder smiled again. "I have enjoyed telling you the tale. But I must retire for the night. It is late, that is, for me. You must be sleepy too, after being woken up so many times today. Good night!" The elder said, then ducked out.

Kalana smiled at Mewtwo. "Are you hungry?" She asked.

Mewtwo nodded eagerly. He hadn't eaten in nearly a day.

Chapter V

_Scattered across the desert are ruins of a society of old. On them are inscribed tales of the days of prosperity before the vile desert. They tell of a single Gerudo tribe that lived alongside the elven people called the Hylians. The two races traded together freely, until a Gerudo male of great power was born. He rose quickly to become king of the Gerudo thieves, and soon conquered both the desert and the great land around it. But his heart was of evil, and he created a black pall over the land. Some believe this is when the desert began to expand. Then, a hero emerged and destroyed the King of Evil, and peace was restored to the land. But peace could not last long, and after this bloody conquest by a Gerudo King, the Hylians and Gerudos drifted apart. Soon a war broke out, and the Hyians set a great curse on the Gerudos. The nature of the curse was a mystery, but soon afterwards, the desert's expansion became noticeable, and the Hylian's land diminished. _

It had been two weeks since Mewtwo arrived at the Gerudo village, and he had still not been found out by the villagers other than Kalana, the Elder, and her guards. Mewtwo was getting the hand of pronunciation, and he could say simple sentences, even though he stuttered often. He found out after he first started talking that his speaking voice was much different from his psychic voice. It was soft and somewhat monotone, but he didn't talk well yet, so he didn't know its full extent.

Mewtwo was getting royally tired of being cooped up in this tiny little hut. The mud walls were pressing in on him, and he wished that he could talk better just so that the Elder would let him out of his hut.

Another night fell, and another lesson came and went, and Mewtwo was extremely restless. Every time the Elder assembled the troops and went on a raid, he felt hotness in his blood, and wished that he could join them in battle. The armor gleaming in the sun and the steady marching awakened in him a thirst for blood, something that he only felt when he had fits of rage. After the column of soldiers would return, he would feel afraid of how he had felt. He knew this vile battle lust could drive him to unspeakable horrors. He tried to put it out of his mind and concentrate on his talking lessons.

After another two weeks, he was becoming a proficient talker. He could talk in normal sentences to express all his basic thoughts, but complicated sentences and grammar were difficult. It was becoming incredibly infuriating for him that he could understand the language top to bottom in his head, but could not pronounce it.

One night, Kalana was confident enough in him to have the elder come in and listen to Mewtwo recite a poem he had written. He had always been a poet at heart, and since he now had nothing else to do, he wrote poetry. This was a fairy complex poem, and he had spent nearly a week practicing and rehearsing. Soon he felt he was ready.

The elder pulled up a chair, and Mewtwo did a few anti-nervousness exercises. He breathed deeply, and began his poem.

"Among us all, destiny clearly rings true,

But all that is destined is not a clear hue.

Each creature's fair purpose lies shrouded in mist,

Some have found theirs, and some of them missed.

We must all find our destiny, our guiding light,

To lead us true through life's dark and black night.

And my destiny is still yet to be found,

Sifting through the dark sands profound.

So I continue to slog through life's deep swamp,

Following the will o' the wisp as I tromp,

I may not make it, but then I just may,

To find my true purpose in dark or in day."

A small, almost unnoticeable tear ran down the elder's cheek. She stood up and hugged Mewtwo. "You, my friend have worked hard to be accepted by me. And so it shows now. I now grant you permission to leave your hut, that is, after I've given you an introduction to the villagers." She began walking out, then turned around and said, "By the way, that was one of the most moving poems I've heard in 75 years.'

"Thank you." Mewtwo said. The elder walked out, and Kalana rushed up and hugged Mewtwo again. He nearly lost balance and toppled over, but managed to catch himself. He wasn't used to being hugged. It certainly was a new experience for him.

The next night was going to be a feast. By now, Mewtwo was slowly turning diurnal, and found night to be a much better time for sleep. The darkness promoted sleep, and the sun rising provided the perfect wake up call. His advanced speaking lessons were to start tomorrow, and the elder was going to hold a feast in his honor that night. Once again he felt nervous, and he was sure he could tell something bad was going to happen. He tried to shake it off, arguing with himself that his powers were gone, and that he couldn't see the future if he tried. Still, a black shroud hovered in the back of his mind, overshadowing his concentration on his final basic speech lesson.

On the big night, the villagers were all gathered in the village square, squawking with gossip in a strange tongue Mewtwo couldn't understand. A table full of delicacies was behind the small podium that had been erected. The elder stepped up to the podium, and the crowd silenced instantly. The elder said something in their language, and the whole crowd repeated it. She then began speaking in English again.

"My loyal and honorable Gerudo tribeswomen, I welcome you all to tonight's feast for the everlasting goddesses. But before the feast begins, I'd like to tell you a story, about a wanderer. When my loyal guard Kalana was on a scouting patrol four weeks ago, she stumbled across this monstrous looking creature severely injured amongst the dunes. Foolishly, she brought is here. She also convinced me to provide treatment for it. As soon as it healed however, my doubts were abolished. The creature, who greatly resembles the demons of old, wrote with his own hands, his life story.

He was found to be a sentient being like you or I, but he was mute. So for the past four weeks, we have been speech training him, and now he can speak fairly well in this common tongue. I feel that now I might be able to introduce him to all of you. Do not be frightened by his appearances, for he has proven to be decent and wholesome."

The elder beckoned to Mewtwo, who was sitting behind her. He breathed deeply, and stepped up. The crowd broke out into crazed whispering and murmuring, and one woman in the back screamed and ran into her hut. Mewtwo felt himself start to sweat. He then began speaking.

"My name is Mewtwo, and I am not a demon. I am not evil, merely a lone wanderer. I came to your world in an hour of need, and you have given me food and shelter. Thank you for your kindness." He then stepped down. The crowd was silent in awe. No one dared speak, and then the elder returned to the podium.

"I have proven beyond a doubt that he means us no harm, so I am hereby awarding him a full membership in our Gerudo tribe. You all are to respect him like a brother, and to treat him fairly and without fear or prejudice. And now, let the feast begin!"

The Gerudos all descended on the feast table like a pack of ants, and Mewtwo stood by silently, waiting for the frenzy to calm down before getting his own food. There was also something odd tugging on his mind. While he was up at the podium talking to the Gerudos, he never saw a single man in the entire assembly. He puzzled on this, trying to remember correctly when Kalana walked up to him with her tray of food. Mewtwo seized this opportunity and asked the question that bothered him, "Where are the men?"

Kalana nearly choked on her food, and said, "What do you mean?"

"Where are all your men? All I saw were women in here." Mewtwo said.

Kalana looked at Mewtwo with a serious frown. "I wondered when you'd ask that." She said. "Go back to your hut, I'll get the elder."

Mewtwo winced. He sensed that he had struck a very sensitive topic. He hoped that he had not offended Kalana; she was becoming his closest friend. He walked back into his hut, the chattering of the villagers at the feast behind him. "This could get ugly." He thought to himself.

Later that night, as Mewtwo started drifting to sleep, he reflected back on the day. He had finished his last basic speech lesson, been set free from his hut prison, introduced to the village, became a member of the tribe, and learned a great deal about the people he was living with.

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! School's been a whirling vortex of homework, projects, and studying. I barely have time to write at all. Anyways, expect my work rate to double once school ends, and the next chunk in June!


	3. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 2

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the SECOND chunk. I must apologize profusely for the lateness of this chapter. There is no excuse for being as lazy as I've been, although part of it's been writer's block too.

Chapter VI

_As the Vile Desert grew in size, the Gerudo civilization split up into several tribes, each of which went on it's own throughout the desert. The Gerudo tribes were isolated from each other and the Hylians. The fate of the Hylians was unknown; no one living has found any traces of them, or the ancient forests that grew in the Hylian kingdom._

It had been another two weeks since the feast, and now Mewtwo was skilled in speaking. Kalana had also started teaching him how to speak Hylian as well. When he questioned her about this, she replied that their descendants spoke Hylian, and that they preserved the language as their own. What he was speaking was known as the common tongue. He had thrown out his old pen and parchment long ago.

Kalana and Mewtwo were out on a desert patrol late evening one calm day. They were discussing Mewtwo's past. This seemed to be a popular subject with everybody in the village. Even the elder showed no signs of losing interest in his tales of the Pokemon world. Kalana was insisting that he tell her everything he knew about Pokemon trainers and battling.

"So the Pokemon don't die?" Kalana asked.

"No, they naturally fall unconscious before it gets to that point." Mewtwo said. "It is only when an attack is so incredibly powerful that a Pokemon becomes in danger of serious injury." Mewtwo's mind wandered. This talk of the past stimulated his memory, which slowly overtook his mind as he and Kalana strode over the burning dunes.

The image of the clone laboratory rushed back to him. He remembered as clear as day the horrifying orange liquid, the wires stuck to his body, and the demonic looking men looking in at him. He remembered their cold, unfeeling voices as they congratulated each other, and the blackness he felt after destroying the island…

"Are you all right?" Kalana asked. She snapped her fingers in his face.

Mewtwo shook his head. The dunes gleamed orange in front of him, and Kalana was frowning. "I'm sorry, I got lost in memory." Mewtwo said. He tried to shake the memories out of his head, but the vision of the scientists dying slowly and painfully seemed to have implanted itself thoroughly.

Kalana looked at him with a measurable worry. "The horrors you committed are coming back to you?" She asked.

"Yes. I will never forget those days when my heart was filled with a black void of darkness, when I….I…." Mewtwo stammered. He grasped his head and fell to his knees. He saw him again, he saw Giovanni. His black, empty eyes which had sparked so much hatred and evil. Mewtwo felt tears dripping down his cheeks, but was preoccupied with the image of those soulless, evil eyes.

Kalana kneeled down beside him. "Come on, I think we should go back to the village. Screw guard patrol." She said. She lifted him up, and supported him, and they began trudging back towards the village.

Mewtwo sobbed, he was having an emotional release that he had never experienced before. He saw the tattered skeletons of the scientists rising from the ruins of the clone lab. He saw them standing among the flames, tears running out of their eye sockets. Giovanni appeared above them, his face normal, but his eyes were gone, replaced by hollow sockets. Giovanni laughed maniacally, and reached out a black hand, scooping up the scientists and crushing them. "All mine." He said, and threw them into the sea. Mewtwo's sobbing was only broken by one whispered word that dropped from his small mouth: "No."

Kalana tried to snap Mewtwo out if it as they made their way across the dunes. "You know, this is the exact stretch of desert that I found you." She said.

"No……..no……." Mewtwo babbled. He was crying almost freely now, the tears seemed to disappear into the burning sands.

"We'll be at the village soon, come on, snap out of this!" She said. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"No……..no……no!" Mewtwo elevated to a shout. His small voice echoed out across the desert. "No! No no no no!" He screamed at the top of his voice. Echoes floated lazily across the sand. The air was perfectly calm, and the sound carried for miles. Mewtwo stopped suddenly, and fell limp.

Kalana strained under the added weight. She bent down and set him on the ground. The echo seemed to just keep going, and she cringed as it hung around the desert like a haze. It eventually stopped, and the desert was eerily calm. Kalana bent over Mewtwo, who had seemed to have passed out. "Come on, wake up! I have a bad feeling about this!" She said.

Her bad feeling was not unfounded either. Kalana didn't notice it at first, but the sand was starting to quiver underneath them. It grew, and a low rumble was heard.

"Oh no," she whispered after finally noticing it, "Sandworm." She whispered softly.

She then pulled out her water bottle and poured some into her cupped hands. She then splashed Mewtwo in the face with it. He did not wake. "Time to go!" She said.

She picked him up, and began running across the dunes. The rumbling was now loud, and the sand a few feet away was rising. The sand suddenly exploded upward, and a hideous worm flew up into the air. It had a large set of saber fangs, and three tiny little beady eyes, which were fixed on Kalana, who was now running as fast as she could while under such a heavy load. The worm flew through the air at a startling speed, and collided with the dunes just a few feet behind Kalana. The sand flew up like a wave and knocked Kalana off her feet. Mewtwo was thrown several feet ahead, and was rolling down the dune. The village was just in sight. Kalana picked herself up quickly, and looked around for Mewtwo. She saw him and the camp a couple hundred feet away. The sand behind her settled, and the rumbling was deafening.

"Only one solution left." Kalana said. She pulled a small horn off her pant leg, brought it up and gave it a mighty blow. The ensuing blast carried over to the village, and soon many horns were heard from the village. Kalana ran down the dune, and picked up Mewtwo. The sand on the dune's peak was moving, and the worm burst through once more. Kalana closed her eyes to keep the sand out, which was raining down from the worm's exit point. She saw the shine of armor up ahead at the village, and another horn sounded. Then the worm came down hard to Kalana's left. She was thrown off her feet again, and Mewtwo was sent flying again. The village was only fifty feet away, and the Gerudo troops were coming up to assist them.

Kalana picked herself up again, and hailed the troops. "Sandworm!" She shouted.

She rushed over and picked up Mewtwo again, and the guards met her and stood by her. The sand rumbled again, and the worm burst up almost a mile away. It was heading straight away from them and the village. It was uttering an awful cry of pain, and landed on top of the sand, having stopped dead in its jump. It just lay there, twitching. Soon the whole village was in arms and out with them. They watch the worm with rigorous anticipation, but it just laid there. It gave them one good start by coughing once, it's whole body convulsing and a large wad of blood filled substance exited its lungs. It had taken its last breath.

Chapter VII

_Over the past few decades of Gerudo history, the legend of Hyrule became the myth of the lost kingdom, and is now only known by the oldest tribe elders. It is passed down traditionally to those who are to be the tribe's next elder, along with all of the other legends. Without the tales of the rich and beautiful past, and a promise of a beautiful future, young children would be unmotivated and the Gerudo tribes would stagnate and die off._

"What happened to him?" The Elder asked.

"We were on our guard patrol. I was passing the time by asking him about his past, about the human world, how people and the Pokemon coexisted, and how they battled. He seemed simply dazed at first, but became delusional as we walked along. I tried talking to him, but he recoiled in seeming horror, whispering 'no', over and over again. At this point I decided we should go back, because he was out of touch with reality. I carried him along, and he kept saying 'no' louder and louder, until he screamed it at the top of his lungs and passed out. At this point the sandworm came. I tried my best to flee, but the worm was getting closer and closer with each jump. That's when the guards arrived to help us. Then, as the reports said, the beast fled in terror, and mysteriously dropped dead in mid-jump."

"Very odd." The elder said. She and Kalana were sitting in the village square, and the market shops and houses were eerily silent.

"Did the guards find out what killed the sandworm?" Kalana asked.

"We found the cause of death. The linings of its lungs had swelled up and burst. Poor creature, it was just trying to feed itself. But we never found out why its lungs hemorrhaged like they did. We found no signs of infections that could've caused the swelling, and it seemed like the swelling blew up extremely fast, almost right before it started attacking you. Normally these kinds of ailments slowly and painfully kill, but the worm was in perfect shape before it attacked." The elder said. "How is Mewtwo?" She asked.

"Not well. He is delusional, and has a high fever. I don't know what to do. He just lays there with his eyes scrunched shut, whimpering and groaning." Kalana said.

"That is most worrisome. Have you gotten Fara to look at him?" Elder asked.

"Not yet." Kalana said.

"Then you'd better do it soon." The Elder said.

"Very good idea. I'll get on it now." Kalana said, and then exited the hut.

Mewtwo laid in his straw bed, twisting and turning in his fitful sleep. He saw the same image over and over again in his mind; Giovanni's dead black eyes gazing over the walking skeletons of the scientists that he had killed. "Come back to me, and the world will be ours…." Giovanni whispered, and the scientists reached out to him with their skeletal hands. They grabbed him and held him to the ground, and Giovanni walked slowly up to him carrying the same black armor he had brought before.

Mewtwo struggled, but his powers were gone, and his frail body could not budge the rotting hands. Giovanni held the black helmet over his head and brought it down on Mewtwo with such great force that he blacked out. He laid still in his straw bed back in reality, and finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

Kalana walked in followed by Farah. Farah felt Mewtwo's forehead, which was burning with fever. She saw no other symptoms or indications of severe illness.

"What's the matter with him?" Kalana asked.

"Nothing serious. But he needs fluids, and he's severely delirious. You may want to restrain him if he wakes up." Fara said.

"Very good then. Go tell the Elder." Kalana said. "I'll make sure he's alright."

Kalana looked down at Mewtwo. He was sweating severely, but was now at ease. He no longer twitched and turned over in distress. She reached down and took his hand in hers. She looked down at its strange form. Three fingers ending in suction cups. She felt his skin was covered in a thin, fine hair, almost fur. His fingers were limp in her hand, but she felt life pulsating underneath the skin. She clasped his hand firmly, and shut her eyes tightly, praying to the goddesses that he be alright.

Slowly the mists began to fade, and a foggy picture formed. Mewtwo moaned in pain, he felt like he was on fire. He then noticed the feeling of someone squeezing his paw. He tired to lift his head, but horrid weakness held him down against the straw. He pried his eyelids from their resting places, and saw the insides of his hut slowly came into focus. He looked down and saw the hands holding his, and followed the arms up to Kalana's face. He smiled weakly, thinking to himself; "How many times have I been in this position before?"

"You alright sleepy head?" Kalana asked, looking down into those deep purple eyes.

Mewtwo moved his small lips, trying to form words, but they escaped him, and he was speechless. He felt himself to be on fire, and he squirmed slightly. His bed was soaked in sweat, and he seemed to be scratched by the straw in several places. He tried to sit up, but his strength had left him completely and he fell back into the bed.

"So, what happened to you huh?" Kalana asked.

The memories of the nightmare came back to Mewtwo swiftly. Kalana's sweetness had calmed him for the moment, but the memories flooded back to him. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"What, what is it?" Kalana asked with a concerned look.

Mewtwo regained his composure and spoke. "You remember I told you my life story right? You remember the horrors I committed? How that scumbag human Giovanni nearly used me to destroy countless lives? I had a horrible nightmare, my head was flooded with horrors of that time. Then it became something more…something much more horrible…I saw the skeletons of the ones I killed rise up, and come for me. I see Giovanni returning, with that same demonic, black armor he tricked me into wearing before. He slammed it down on me, and everything went black." Mewtwo sputtered.

Kalana felt the sheer emotion of horror emanating from Mewtwo's mind and soul. It scared her, and she felt tears in her eyes.

"I remember how the rages felt." Mewtwo said. "I remember the fiery fury that seized my consciousness, and turned my soul into a chaotic inferno comparable to the pits of hell. I remember that my rational thought processes would melt down, like molten lava, and I would completely lose control, until the aftermath, mostly dead bodies, would douse the fire like a raging waterfall. The feeling left afterwards is the worst emotion ever to wrack to mind, body and spirit of any living being. After the anger, an emptiness seemed to fill me. A black, cold void left me sitting in a seeming vast wasteland of emotion, which swallowed everything up and nothing escaped."

Mewtwo paused and took a deep breath. Just remembering these times brought them back to him in full force, and he felt as though he was going to implode on himself and the world was swirling around him. He shook his head hard and continued.

"But it doesn't matter now. I have found a new home. Without my powers here, I am no longer able to harm anyone or anything. No matter how much of an empty desert this place is, it is my home." Mewtwo said.

Kalana squeezed Mewtwo's hand. "It doesn't matter how you feel." She said. "This still is not home!" She shouted. "Home is a place of beauty, where life thrives and plants grow! I was raised on this vile desert, so I cannot justify this outbreak, but I dreamed of it! A land of green, lush trees, bountiful valleys, peaceful lives, and no evil towers rising above the land to suck all the magic essence away!" Kalana said, tears streaming down her face.

"This may seem like a home to you, but I know there's more! There should've been more! But somehow, the entire world is a desolate waste!" Kalana shouted and ran out of the hut.

Mewtwo was shocked. He sat up, and immediately fell back in bed as another wave of nausea washed over him. "This, this world, there's something wrong with it. I must find out what it is." Mewtwo said quietly. He closed his eyes and drifted into another fitful sleep.

Chapter VIII

_The final prophecy of the ancient Gerudo legends foretold that the wanderer, who would live amongst the tribes, would seek out the evil in the East, and put an end to what has been known as the time of despair. The time of despair is the time that has stretched beyond count, that the towers have remained standing over the endless desert, and the time when the tribes settled out of their nomadic tendencies and created permanent villages around the towers. The wanderer would go to the East, to never be seen again, and the monuments to evil shall fall on a great day of reawakening for the entire world._

For the first time in almost two weeks, Mewtwo awoke by himself, without help from the clamors of the village market or the horn announcing a raid on one of the mines. Mewtwo wiped some sweat off his brow, and sat up. He felt refreshed, almost like a whole new Pokemon. He stood up and waited for the weakness to come over him, but it didn't. He sighed with relief and walked out of his hut.

A few Gerudos waved at him, and he smiled and waved back. Ever since he had become an honorary member of the tribe, the people in the village gave him their trust. Some even befriended him and followed him around when they had the time.

Mewtwo walked past the marketplace towards the Elder's mud daub house. He had a new purpose in his mind, to find out as much history of this world as possible. And the one Gerudo in the village that he knew was phrased on history and legend was the Elder.

Mewtwo knocked on the Elder's door.

"Not now, I'm busy!" She shouted from the inside.

"It's Mewtwo!"

The door opened and the Elder smiled. "I'm sorry for my rudeness. Please, come in." The Elder said.

Mewtwo followed the Elder inside, closing the door behind him. The Elder sat down on a chair and smiled warmly. "What can I do for you?" She asked.

"I want to know all of the old tales, the legends and the myths. All of them." Mewtwo said.

"All of them? Oh my, there are quite a few. Too many to tell in one day only, I'm afraid. The history of this land is very rich you know?" the Elder said.

"Well, could you tell me one now, just one?" Mewtwo pleaded.

"Oh alright, you talked me into it. Now, we told you about the princess and the warlock, right?" Elder said.

"Yes. That was a wonderful tale." Mewtwo said.

"Oh it's more than just a tale my purple friend. I may not say this much, but I believe that all the legends are true. They are the only explanation for the state of the world these past hundreds and thousands of years. But I'm rambling. By any chance, did you hear the tale about the ancient land of Hyrule?" Elder asked.

"No, I don't think so." Mewtwo said.

The Elder got up, and walked to the back of her house. She pushed open a curtain and ruffled through yellowed and musty sheets of ancient paper. She walked back with an old looking scroll.

"Ah yes, let me take a moment to recall…" Elder said, spreading the scroll out on the floor. The cracked and yellow paper rolled out, almost five feet long and a foot wide.

Mewtwo gazed at the scroll in awe. The scroll rolled out the story of a young boy in a tunic, fighting a horrid monster, and above it all a three tiered Triangle symbol. Mewtwo was interrupted by the Elder snapping out of her trance of remembrance.

"Long, long ago, almost eight thousand years ago, the desert was small, navigable, and neighbored by a lush green land of many wonders. This land was called…Hyrule. Our ancient ancestors, the first Gerudo Tribe, lived in the desert then, neighbored by the tall, powerful, elfish peoples know as Hylians. They coexisted, trading together and peace was a fact of life."

"Now it has always been that in Gerudo society, when a male is born, he is crowned King. One day, a strong baby boy was born by the name of Ganondorf Dragmire. He grew up to be a powerful King of the Gerudo thieves. But at some point in his life, horror and despair burned his soul black, and he became a wicked man, killing for pleasure, and only seeking more power."

"Hyrule had a legend, about a powerful artifact left by three goddesses. It was called the Triforce. Ganondorf sought to obtain this power for himself, and use it to rule the world. He managed to succeed, but only in a costly, half victory, for when he touched the Triforce, it split into three pieces, and only one remained in his clutches. He used its power to conquer Hyrule and the desert for himself."

"A young boy, whose name has been lost in time, rose through time, and with a third of the Triforce, defeated Ganondorf in a Cataclysmic battle. With the King of Evil dethroned, peace resumed. But new tensions arose. The Hylian peoples were in a rage, and they blamed the Gerudos for Ganondorf's evil reign. War was inevitable, and many lost their lives in battle."

"The Hylians, wanting to end the bloodshed, attempted to cast a death curse on the Gerudos, but failed. Some say that it was this curse that caused the desert to expand, others call it unimportant, but I know this is a turning point in history. The desert began to expand."

"After many more years of bloody war, the expanding desert put enough distance between the Hylians and Gerudos that the war ended. The Gerudos, now almost completely killed off by the war, split into several tribes and began wandering the desert. It is here that our knowledge of the Hylians ends." The Elder said, rolling up the scroll.

Mewtwo rubbed his chin. He had formed his own interpretation in his head of how the world had gone bad. A few radical thoughts began crossing his mind. Kalana and the Gerudos had done so much for him, so why couldn't he do something for them?

"Mewtwo?"

Mewtwo shook his head. The elder looked at him inquisitively.

"I'm sorry. I got caught up in thought." Mewtwo said, feeling monumentally stupid. "Do you have any more tales?" He asked.

The Elder turned her head at him. "My you have a curious mind. Of course there are more tales! But we're about to go on a raid against the mine. I don't have time to tell you another." Elder said, putting the scroll back away in the closet.

The Elder opened the door of her house and walked out followed by Mewtwo. As they walked by a small table, the Elder picked a horn off the top and brought it to her mouth. The blast echoed across the dunes, and the previously quiet village burst to life. From every house came an armored Gerudo woman, ready for the raid, carrying a double ended scimitar.

Mewtwo saw Kalana among the ranks. He turned his head in curiosity. "Why is Kalana going along? Isn't she a village guard?" He asked.

"Yes, but this isn't an ordinary raid. This is the last raid we're going to make before the caravan leaves." Elder said. She was pulling on armor herself.

"Caravan?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yes. Every year we travel Far East to trade with another tribe. This raid is to steal enough food and water to sustain us over the week's long trip. It's more than just breaking in, stealing stuff, and running, we need to take control of the entire tower." The Elder said.

"What for?" Mewtwo asked.

"It's not obvious, but below the towers is a vast tunnel network. All the food the people in the tower need comes in through this tunnel. We need to take control of this tunnel, but first we need to destroy their magic draining device," the Elder said, "which is guarded heavily."

Mewtwo shook his head. This 'empire' sounded advanced, most likely having guns. They would need all the help they could get. "I want to go with you." Mewtwo burst out.

The Elder did a double take. "Are you serious?" She said.

"Very. I know that I may not be physically strong or trained, but I feel as though I can make a difference." Mewtwo said.

The Elder shook her head. "If you were a youth, aspiring for greatness, I would firmly forbid it. But you've been seeking a purpose all of your life, and I cannot deny you that." The Elder said.

"Thank you." Mewtwo said.

"Well, I'm not sure if I have any armor that will fit you, but I can get you a scimitar." The elder said. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled hard.

A small child came up carrying five scimitars and a set of Armor. Mewtwo picked up a scimitar in his hand. He felt it light and strong. The two blades on each side glinted in the harsh desert sun.

The Elder said something in Gerudo language to the child and patted her on the head. The girl smiled and said something in reply and ran off.

Mewtwo found a place in the ranks of the Gerudos, and the Elder walked up the front. "Today, we walk into battle with the empire once again!" She shouted.

The Gerudos shouted out in response.

"We go, not for revenge, and not out of blood thirst, but for our own lives! We take the food, so that we may live!" The Elder shouted. The Elder finished her speech with a spirited shout in the Gerudo language, and all the Gerudos raised their scimitars and shouted a salute.

The ranks started moving, and quickly moved out of the village and into the endless desert. In the distance, the tower of the mine glinted in the sun. Mewtwo panted and stepped in time with the rest of the Gerudos.

"What did she say at the end of the speech?" Mewtwo whispered to the soldier beside him.

"An ancient saying passed down and said before a great test. 'May the way of the Hero lead to Triumph." The soldier said.

A/N: Well, I'm not even going to TRY and guess when the next chapter will come, but I'll try to crank it out before school starts again. Remember, reviews are what keep me going, so if you like this, review, or I won't be able to keep it up!


	4. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 3

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the THIRD chunk. I'm amazed by the speediness that this one got cranked out with! It was the polar opposite from the last chapter! And one other thing I realized; FF.N does not support the Italic thing from Microsoft Word which I use to write. I used Italics on the first paragraph of every mini chapter to denote a historic anecdote. I hope this clears up some confusion. WARNING: This is where the violence starts folks! It's not graphically descriptive of each little bit of gore, but it let's you know it's there, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Chapter IX

_A small facet of history overlooked by many Gerudo Elders was the Hylian legends of the Triforce. The legend told of the three goddesses of Power, Courage, and Wisdom, who descended and created the world. With their elegant arms they cast spell of great power, creating the world, filling it with life, and giving it a strong magical essence. After their tasks were complete, the goddesses departed, leaving behind an essence of their powers, known as the Triforce. The First Hylians built a temple around it, and protected it with powerful magic. It was said that whoever obtained the whole Triforce, would be granted the power of the gods, and would have their wish granted. But the heart of the seeker had to be balanced, or the Triforce would break, each shard would go to a destined man or woman whom had the trait strongest that the piece represented. This is why the evil king Ganondorf did not gain the whole Triforce when he conquered Hyrule so many years ago._

Mewtwo marched along with the Gerudos at a swift pace. They maintained a constant course, the tower which was continually growing on the horizon. With this tiring and mindless physical work, Mewtwo's mind wandered. His memory of the past month and a half with the Gerudos came back to him. He remembered the feast night, when he had made his small speech to the Gerudo tribeswomen, and he remembered the black pall of uneasiness that had hung over his mind before his speech. He had shrugged off after nothing bad had happened, but it had stuck to his unconscious mind like gum on a shoe. Now it was once again strong over his thoughts, like an ominous thundercloud overshadowing the world of his mind.

Mewtwo was shaken out of dreamland by the sight of the tower gigantic in his field of vision. They were almost at the gates. Mewtwo felt the sheer energy drain on him from the device, which was at the top of the tower. "So this is why that the dimensional portal was such a sinkhole," He thought to himself, "This machine is sucking the very life force from the world."

As the troops neared the massive iron gates, the guard next to him handed him some soft yellow blobs. "What are these?" Mewtwo asked curiously.

"You don't know about the incantation?" The guard inquired.

"Why no. What is it?" Mewtwo asked.

"It's a slowly repeated spoken spell, broadcasted out from the towers. It's a form of mind control. They use it to control their workers and capture raiders who are foolish enough to attack without earplugs." The soldier said.

Mewtwo shrugged and stuffed the blobs into his small ear holes, and noticed how they completely blocked his hearing. He felt at the curiously as they marched.

As they reached the gates of the building, shots rang out from turrets on the tower, seemingly shattering the calm pall over the desert. Mewtwo could definitely hear those through the earplugs. The Elder shouted a battle cry and the once orderly ranks broke apart and the guards ran up and edged against the tower wall. Mewtwo wisely followed suit. Without the order of the ranks, Mewtwo found himself standing next to Kalana.

He knew why they were straddling the wall, the guards had guns, and they couldn't shoot them through the floor. He was now officially stressed and worried, because now he knew for sure that the empire used guns. He sighed and shook his head, and edged across the wall, past Kalana, to the gates.

He found the Elder examining a code keypad on the wall. He suddenly realized that the Elder was cracking the code to gain access. He was simply stunned by the technical knowledge she had.

The Elder cursed heavily in Hylian as she worked on the code. She eventually threw up her hands in disgust. She gestured wildly with her hands, as if asking for something.

A guard came up carrying a bag full of black powder. Mewtwo recognized it immediately, gun powder. The Gerudos probably stole it on a previous raid.

The Elder slammed her fist against the code panel until it slid out, revealing wires. She gently poured all of the gun powder inside the hole and stood back. She pulled out a flint and a stone and cracked them together. Sparks flew out, and one landed in the gun powder. The Elder jumped back as the explosion's noise dulled through Mewtwo's earplugs as a soft, but pronounced thud.

The next thing that happened shocked Mewtwo almost senseless, the doors creaked open. "This must be some shoddy electronic security system we're dealing with if the doors will open when a keypad is destroyed." Mewtwo thought to himself.

Gerudos began pouring into the building, and Mewtwo heard shots ringing out through his earplugs again. He winced and imagined the Gerudos falling, with bullets burrowing into them. When the time came, Mewtwo followed the guards into the mine. He was amazed to see all of the Gerudos unharmed. Their armor was simply dented from the bullets. He was once again amazed by their resourcefulness. He saw them spreading out into the rooms, systematically killing off the guards while he trailed in the rear.

Mewtwo saw the effects of the mind control. The workers toiled mindlessly, and their eyes were empty of life, simply staring at the work at hand. The guards were not intelligent either, without their free will. The Gerudos slaughtered them effortlessly.

The Gerudos move systematically room to room, killing guards and tying down workers. They were working upwards, up the tower and towards the energy draining device. Mewtwo remained in the back of the band, but his blood was beginning to flow hotly, and battle anticipation roiled in his mind.

After nearly half an hour, the Gerudo war band had reached the top of the tower. The burst through a strong metal door and flooded into a large tower top room. Immediately, Mewtwo recognized the sound of a machine gun barking out. He saw a Gerudo in the head of the band getting pummeled with bullets. Her armor contorted and twisted, and then split open. The woman was ripped to pieces by the fury of steel. The Gerudos were pushed back out into the hallway by the maelstrom of steel, and they stood outside the door, thinking of a plan.

The Elder was rummaging through her bag, and suddenly squealed with joy. She pulled out three black spheres, roughly the size of tennis balls. She squeezed on hard in her palm and threw it into the room. It burst almost instantly, and a billowing yellow smoke poured forth. The Elder did the same for the other two spheres. "Smoke bombs. They must have stolen those too." Mewtwo thought to himself.

The room was filled completely with the thick smog, and the Gerudos rushed in. The guards, mindless and stupid, had no idea how to counter this, and were simply slaughtered behind their guns. The Gerudos had taken the tower.

After twenty minutes, the smoke cleared enough to allow vision to be restored. Mewtwo looked in awe at the machine that towered over them. Like a huge, glowing, pulsating monster, the machine was sucking in energy, processing it, and transporting it to the rest of the tower and the mines and tunnels below.

The Elder made the same gesture again, and a guard came up carrying a considerably larger sack of gun powder. The Elder pulled out a string and stuck it into the bag and tied the bag shut. She set the bag inside a network of cables in the machine, and led the thread out.

The Gerudos moved out of the room, and the Elder cracked the flint against the stone again. A spark landed on the thread, and the Elder blew on it, hard, until it caught aflame. The flame traveled down the thread and into the room. Mewtwo put his hands over his already blocked ears.

Another small thud of an explosion made its way into Mewtwo's mind, and so did something else, energy. He felt new life coming up into his mind, and he looked into the room to see the device destroyed. He looked over to see the Gerudos removing the earplugs from their ears. He did the same.

"Now that we've destroyed the device, there's no power. And no power means no incantation! The Elder said gleefully.

Mewtwo nodded, and looked down at his paws with awe. They glowed with power once more.

"And now, we can use magic once more!" Kalana said with pure joy on her face. She strode up to Mewtwo smiling. Her smile melted away when she saw Mewtwo's expression of awe and surprise. She followed his gaze down to his hands, and gasped and drew back when she saw them glowing. The Gerudos all gasped and drew away from Mewtwo. The Elder however, walked up to him.

"You told us about this incredible power you had. I mildly doubted that it existed." She said.

Mewtwo gestured his hands toward a shard of metal on the floor, and it flew up in the air at his bidding. He drew it in close to himself and grabbed it out of the air. Murmurs and whispers ran rampant among the Gerudos. Mewtwo let go of the shard, letting it hover in midair. He brought it out into the open, and concentrated. The shard liquefied and began boiling as it hovered in the air. Its molecular structure began to break down, and it fizzed and exploded. Mewtwo caught the droplets and threw them down, where they solidified into metal globules on the floor. The Gerudos were totally silent.

"Now I see that you were telling the truth. Your power rivals that of the ancient warlock of legends himself." The Elder said. Murmurs broke out again.

Mewtwo ignored the Elder and began hovering in the air. He floated over to the body of the Gerudo that was first to die under the machine gun's wrath. The Gerudos that were alive whispered in awe at the sight of Mewtwo floating.

Mewtwo looked down at the dead woman. Her abdomen was ripped open, and her organs were spilled on the floor. Her blood was still warm and her face held a look of horror, trapped in time from the first moment that the bullets entered her body. A small, delicate tear ran down Mewtwo's face, and fell to land on her hand. Mewtwo grabbed her hand with his, and put her scimitar in her hand, and then put her hand to her chest and closed her eyes. He stood up, and looked around at the living Gerudos, all of whom were staring at him silently. In his mind, his sadness for the deceased was transforming, transforming into the familiar red rage that crept up into his eyes. He saw into the future again, he saw the tombstone for each of the living Gerudos standing before him. His heart wrenched when he saw Kalana's, with an inscription etched for time of death ten years from now.

The sight of Kalana's early death tore at Mewtwo, and his heart burned with sadness and rage. His consciousness began to melt with anger, and tears flowed from him. He cried out with his psychic voice, booming over the Gerudos. A few of them screamed in fear, and the Elder's eyes showed a look of sheer horror at this awful cry that came into her head.

Mewtwo lost his last bastion of sanity when he saw the Elder's tombstone, marked with time of death five years from now. He cried out again, and teleported away, down into the tunnels below the tower.

There he found the workers, suddenly free from mind control, wandering around trying to find out who and where they were. But his rage had completely destroyed all rational thought, and all he saw were the mindless, soulless eyes of murderers, men and women who would kill all he knew and cherished in a few short years. He shouted in primal rage and with bursts of psychic energy, fried the brains of every single man and woman in the tunnel. He fell to the ground, sobbing and panting.

Chapter X

_Raids on the mines over the centuries have revealed some of the best kept secrets of the empire. The magic draining device on the top of every tower is the source of the water generated. While operating, the device's hull cools down to extremely low temperatures, despite the desert heat. Water condenses at an alarming rate, and is collected to use. The rest is dumped. Another secret was the tunnels underneath. The Gerudos know that these structures are mines, but they are also linked together with all the other towers through a vast underground tunnel network. Food is delivered along this tunnel, although each tower generates its own water and energy, so there is no need to transport water or energy._

The Gerudos found Mewtwo sobbing in the tunnel station below the tower. Around him were the scattered bodies of workers and guards. He was leaning over a worker's body, sobbing his heart out.

The Gerudos quickly secured the tunnel station, finding all guards and workers dead. The station was eerily silent. In the center of the station was a lowered set of tracks, where the food cars would arrive. The Gerudos, now armed with magic, were preparing for the cars to arrive, and would then kill the guards and tie down the workers.

The Elder walked up to Mewtwo, who was kneeling over a dead worker and crying. The worker was a Gerudo woman.

"One of our own, fallen victim to the mind control." The Elder said.

Mewtwo cried harder. The dead woman's face held a look of shock. Mewtwo closed her eyes and stood up. He nearly shook with emotional pain.

"They were innocent. All of them." He said. "They were just freed from the mind control, and I killed them. I killed them all." Mewtwo said, holding back more crying.

The Elder walked up to him and grabbed his hand in hers. She squeezed hard. "You were not yourself." She said.

Mewtwo squeezed the Elder's hand. He wanted to tell her why he went over the edge, but he couldn't bear telling her she was going to die in five years. He let go of the Elder's hand, and a new thought crossed his mind.

Mewtwo bent over the dead Gerudo worker and touched his hand to hers. His body glowed blue, and all the Gerudos stared at Mewtwo in awe. Mewtwo remembered the past when he and Mew were fighting. He remembered the trainer Ash jumping into the line of fire, sacrificing himself to stop to horrendous fighting. He remembered the tears of the Pokemon flew to Ash's hard, cold body and resurrected him. Mewtwo leaned down, and a single tear fell from his face and down onto the face of the woman.

The station was eerily calm as the bodies of Mewtwo and the woman glowed bright blue. After five minutes, the Gerudo blinked her eyes and sat up.

All of the Gerudos in the room gasped in shock. Mewtwo reached out his hand, and the Gerudo woman shrank back in terror. The Elder reached down and pulled up the woman. She said something in Hylian to her and they hugged each other hard. The elder patted the woman on the back and said something more in Hylian. The Gerudo walked out of the room.

The Elder walked up to Mewtwo and hugged him hard. "That was my youngest daughter you saved." She said. "I lost her when she ran off foolishly to try and destroy the tower herself. She left and never came back. I thought I would never see her again." The Elder said. Mewtwo felt a tear on his shoulder.

Kalana ran out of her hiding place and grabbed the Elder's hand. "The food car will be here soon. We need to get ready." She said.

The Elder let go of Mewtwo and smiled. Tears were streaming down her face. "Thank you." She said.

The Gerudos all found hiding places in nooks and crannies around the station. Mewtwo hid behind a group of barrels. He felt strange. The black, emptiness that filled him after his rages had died down quickly. It was replaced with a warmth inside. He felt happy, almost joyful, that he had saved the life of the Elder's daughter.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Elder shouting. "These cars have their own power! That means mind control!" The Elder cried over to him.

"Don't worry!" He shouted. "I have my power back!"

Ten minutes passed without anything happening. The station was eerily quiet as the Gerudos awaited the train car's arrival. Mewtwo's giddiness soon wilted back into the same foreshadowing cloud over his mind. He felt a black pall over his mind, and an evil atmosphere flowing into the room. Night was falling over the desert outside, and the room was getting darker and darker. Mewtwo swallowed hard, and his brooding feeling was growing into fear and horror. He suddenly felt that he couldn't stand being here any longer, and the room was suffocating him. He finally lost it and created a small psychic light. It brightened the whole room, and he sighed with relief. The Gerudos made "shhh" sounds and the Elder shook her head from her hiding place.

Mewtwo swallowed hard and put out the light. The darkness closed in on him. He closed his eyes in horror. The atmosphere was oppressive and evil, and he felt like he was choking. Then he recognized the sound of a train clicking along steel tracks. He threw the bad feelings off and powered up. He was planning on giving the Gerudos a little show.

After another ten minutes, the car pulled into the station, and Mewtwo heard the sweet, mellow sound of a Gerudo woman's voice easing out of speakers on the side of the car. He felt eased into submission, and smiled. The chant was in Hylian, but Mewtwo felt submissive and quieted. He smiled dumbly and stood up. The doors to the car opened, and a guard came out carrying a rocket launcher. He looked around with his lifeless eyes.

Mewtwo suddenly snapped out of his calm, seeing the rocket launcher in the guard's hands. He knew that the mind control had almost snared him, and he created a psychic barrier around his mind, protecting it from outside influence. He was about to charge out when a little black sphere rolled out of the Elder's hiding place. It burst open and the familiar yellow smoke billowed out. The guard looked down at it dumbly, and did nothing as the smoke enveloped him. Mewtwo heard the Gerudo footsteps, and heard the familiar sound of a scimitar hitting flesh. Gunshots rang out in the haze, and Mewtwo heard the Elder's battle cry. A scuffle was heard, a few more shots shattered the air, and a cry of pain was heard. Mewtwo winced.

Never once did an enslaved one make a sound, so Mewtwo knew it was a Gerudo that had been hurt. He walked out from behind the barrels and was about to fry the megaphones blaring out the mind control when he sensed something. A horrible, evil power, that seemed to emanate from inside the car. Suddenly, the fighting stopped abruptly. Mewtwo heard laughing, pure, black, evil laughter, and the smoke suddenly blew away. The sight that met Mewtwo's eyes wracked his mind. In the door of the car, surrounded by suspended floating Gerudos, was another Mewtwo. But it was different. Its body was black, jet black, and its eyes glowed sinister red. It was holding up one paw, holding the Gerudos psychically suspended in the air.

"Surprise!" It boomed in its psychic voice. The Gerudos screamed in pain as pressure was applied to their grip.

Mewtwo, our Mewtwo, stammered in shock. "Who….who…are you?" He said aloud.

"Still speaking with that puny mouth of yours, eh?" The other smugly replied.

Mewtwo was speechless. He stared in sheer paralyzing shock. He moved his lips but no sound came.

"Well, it seems you're out of your mind with shock. I know what will bring you out of it!" the evil one said. He formed a dark blade out of energy and tossed it with a quick flick of the wrist. It embedded in the head of a Gerudo. She fell limp, dead almost instantly. She then fell to the floor, loose from the grip.

Mewtwo burst out of his shock. "How dare you?" He screamed in his psychic voice.

The black one smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth. "That's more like it. Get mad!" He said, and suddenly another Gerudo split in half in his grip and landed on the floor screaming in pain.

Mewtwo acted violently and without thinking. He sent a powerful psychic wave at the black one. The Black one dropped the Gerudos and blocked the attack. The waves of invisible energy clashing in the air sparked electrically. The air itself crackled and the two opponents strained hard, trying to push the other's attack off. Both opponents pushed harder and harder, and the air tasted of pure static energy.

Soon, the energy fields stood out visually. Bolts of lightning flashed around two glowing energy fields, blue and black. The floor began shaking, and small cracks webbed throughout the plated steel floor. Barrels and boxes lifted off the floor, suspended by the sheer energy permeating the room. The train car groaned and lifted off of its tracks. Glass windows of a security box in the ceiling shattered, raining glass shards. The shards slowed down and hovered with the barrels. Something was going to give soon.

The black one, sweating and straining, smiled. "We are evenly matched." He said, "Time to break the stalemate." He finished his sentence, and formed an energy blade. He threw it quickly towards the elder.

Mewtwo cried out and let go of his concentration and moved his energy to block the attack on the Elder. The black energy from his stalemate slammed into Mewtwo, searing his skin and slamming him into the wall. His bones cracked and his skin was burned black. The hovering barrels thudded to the floor and the glass shards fell and slashed and cut Mewtwo and the Gerudos.

Mewtwo's pain nearly caused him to black out, but he had his powers back, and he was far from done. The Black one laughed as Mewtwo used his recover ability, and stood up, unharmed. He was more than normal, he was going into a rage, which was heightening his power. He formed a shadow ball in his hands, charging it up and expanding it until it was almost four feet in diameter, and slung it at the black one.

The black one formed an energy barrier, and the shadow ball smashed into it, bending the barrier, and then shattering it. It blew a hole into the black one's torso. He gasped as he was thrown into the wall. Black blood seeped out of his mouth. He sputtered and laughed. "I've found out what I need to know." He said, and suddenly disappeared, having teleported away.

Chapter XI

_One of the last Hylian legends was that of the apocalypse. Hylian prophets foretold a great and evil power from the sky would descend and immerse Hyrule in evil. It was said that the world would be doomed if the evil was not vanquished, and despair would rule all. The only way to stop the fate of the world was to bring all of the Triforce pieces together, all of the descendants of the seven sages together, and to sacrifice the life of the one who was destined to hold the Triforce in its wholeness. Only then would a spell of great power be cast, and the evil swept off the world. This legend has been believed to be true by most Gerudo elders, who see the empire and its towers as that evil force which conquered the world._

Almost all of the Gerudos were unharmed. They soon recovered from their attack and began plundering the food car. The injured ones that had survived were about to leave when Mewtwo stopped them.

"I can help." He said.

A Gerudo with a slash wound on her shoulder walked up to him with a confused and dazed look. Mewtwo put his hands on the wound, and used his power to heal it. The Gerudo hugged him spontaneously, and Mewtwo smiled. He was recovering from his rage well. He had saved lives this time, instead of taking them. He healed the Gerudos, and when he was done, the car had been emptied completely.

The procession soon began to leave the basement of the tower, and a thought entered his head. He wanted to do all he could to help the Gerudos, and he was always thinking of new ways. He had just thought of a new one. He hung back at the end of the precession climbing the tower's stairs. The Gerudos panted and strained under the tremendous weight of the food crates. Mewtwo was hardly noticed, as the Elder was at the front and Kalana was in the middle, carrying a crate. He concentrated hard and glowed blue. He wrapped his consciousness around the Gerudos in front and bent the fabric of the dimension, and the entire procession disappeared out of the tower and appeared back in the village.

A few Gerudos stumbled and tripped with surprise, and a few shouts and cries were heard. The Elder, who was about to step on the next step on the stairs, fell face first into the sand. Mewtwo stifled back a laugh.

The Elder quickly regained her composure and shouted a roll call. Everyone was accounted for, and Mewtwo laughed and called her over to talk to him.

"What exactly happened?" She asked.

"I teleported us back to the village." Mewtwo said. "Boy you should've seen the looks on all of your faces!" Mewtwo laughed, and his psychic voice's laughter boomed through the minds of the Gerudos. They cowered with fear.

"Stop that!" The Elder snapped. "However you're talking in our heads like that, it's terrifying the villagers!"

Mewtwo winced. He was about to say something when the Elder continued.

"I don't want you talking with that voice again! Frankly, after that horrifying evil copy of you attacked us, the villagers are shaken up and could lose it if you kept doing things like 'teleporting' or other such magic. I don't want to see any more public displays of power again! I'm not sure if the villagers trust you anymore after that evil version of you nearly killed them all!" The Elder shouted.

Kalana set down her crate and ran up to throw in her two cents. "Just a minute Elder! You're overreacting!" She said.

"How dare you chide an Elder, let alone your own mother!" the Elder shrieked.

"Just listen to me! Mewtwo saved all of our lives today! You, I, and the whole village owe him our lives!"

"That may be true! But not half of these nitwits are calm enough to realize that, and after the evil look-alike nearly killed us all, I think that there needs to be a little peace around here!" the Elder shouted.

"Right. You're right. But I still think you should treat the one who saved your life with a little more respect!" Kalana said, lowering her voice.

"And you need to respect your mother and Tribe Elder! Anymore of this insubordinate behavior will have you in serious trouble!" the Elder said. She turned to face Mewtwo. "I suppose I was a bit harsh, and I do owe you for what you did, but I need to ask you to not use your powers for a few days. I don't want a riot before we start on our trip east." The Elder said.

Mewtwo nodded. "When are we leaving?" he asked.

"Tomorrow at the break of dawn. We will be packing all the food and goods onto wagons tonight." The Elder said.

"How will you pull them? There are no pack animals in this kind of environment." Mewtwo said.

"We will use engines stolen from the empire. Don't worry; we have stolen enough fuel for them to last the journey as well." The Elder said.

Mewtwo sighed in amazement. The Gerudos seemed to be almost completely dependant on the Empire for all of their needs, from food and water to transportation. The straw for their beds must have been stolen as well. And the Empire still hasn't figured out a way to stop them. And where did the other Mewtwo come from? All of these thought ricocheted around Mewtwo's mind as he walked back to his hut. The Elder had made it painfully obvious to him that she didn't want him using his powers, so there was nothing he could do to help them prepare for the trip. He went back to his hut and slept.

A/N: This chapter got cranked out pretty fast, so please forgive any extremely stupid spelling or grammar errors. If you find any that are particularly egregious, then let me know by review or E-mail. And remember, it was your excellent reviews that motivated me to do this one fast and excellently!


	5. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 4

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the FOURTH Chunk. This will probably be the last chunk to be published before school starts. Once school does start, my writing will slow down considerably again. I may not have lived up to my goal of finishing Part II before school starts, but I'm satisfied with the progress I've made! Remember, reviews are what keep me writing!

Chapter XII

_The original Gerudo civilization split up into four separate tribes; The Red, Blue, Yellow and Green tribes. The Red tribe moved the farthest West out into the desert, making it the most isolated of the four tribes, and therefore the most dependant on the nearby mine. The Yellow tribe moved North, trying to find the cooler arctic climate, but was forced to stop at the North most mine due to lack of supplies. The Green tribe moved south, looking for Tropical rainforests, which were rich with food and water, but were stopped for the same reason as the yellows. The Blues remained in the East, not far from where the original Gerudos first lived. Trading between the four tribes is not organized, but it seems that whenever one leaves it's village, the other hosts it for the week they stay for trading and ceremonies._

Mewtwo awoke to the sound of hustle and bustle. He laid in his bed for awhile to listen to the sounds of the Gerudos preparing the wagons for the trip. He heard voices in Hylian and common, and the sound of crates being dropped onto creaky wooden platforms. He heard footsteps coming towards his hut as well, and he shut his eyes.

A hand shook Mewtwo's shoulder, and he stretched his arms and opened his eyes. Standing there was the young Gerudo woman who was Kalana's sister, the one that he had saved from death. Mewtwo sat up and faced her.

"I… want to thank you. My sis said you saved my life." She said.

"What is your name?" Mewtwo asked.

"Ruru. I was named after the first honorable mother of the first Gerudo tribe." She said.

"Who was that?" Mewtwo asked.

"Nabooru. She was one of the six ancient sages… at least, that's what mom says." Ruru said. "Mom told me to come wake you up."

Mewtwo stood up and stretched. He walked out of the hut with Ruru tagging along behind. They approached the wagons, which were hitched up to what seemed to be crude diesel engines. Mewtwo shook his head again. It was amazing how these people lived.

"Morning sleepyhead! Morning sis!" Kalana shouted from inside a wagon. "Ready to go?"

Ruru laughed and jumped into the wagon with her sister. A furious game of tickle the sister began. Mewtwo laughed as Kalana had a size advantage and Ruru was giggling nonstop. He hadn't seen or felt this kind of love before in his life. It made him long for it, and mildly sad at heart. But he laughed and watched anyway.

The Elder strolled up to Mewtwo's side. "You know they've reclaimed the mine by now? In a few hours the energy drain will reactivate." She said in a low voice.

"I know. I'm surprised they haven't fixed it already." Mewtwo said.

"Oh that device of theirs is pretty fragile. It'll be awhile before it's functional." The Elder said.

"When are we leaving?" Mewtwo asked.

"In about ten minutes. We're fueling up the engines and getting the villagers settled into the passenger wagons."

Mewtwo rubbed the back of his head. "Which wagon am I going to ride in?" He asked.

"Oh I don't know, it's up to you where you ride, just try not to crowd any of the villagers." The Elder said.

There were ten wagons in total, four of which were cargo, and the other six carried the Gerudos. Mewtwo strolled around the wagons. They were crudely constructed out of wood with cloth stretched over the top. They were hitched up to what looked like halves of cars. They looked like human automobiles, but were much sleeker and egg shaped. They were apparently cut in half by the middle, and pegs were hammered into the sides so that they could be hitched to the wagons. Gerudo women were flipping open lids and pouring what appeared to be gasoline into them.

Pretty soon, the Gerudos finished loading up into the wagons and final checks were being made. Mewtwo finally had a chance to count all of the Gerudos. There were six passenger wagons, each holding six passengers and a driver. Also, the cargo wagons held one driver, totaling 46 Gerudos. Mewtwo was still wandering around when the Elder shouted out to him.

"Mewtwo! We're ready to leave! Get in a wagon we're going!" She shouted.

Mewtwo snapped out of his thought and ran back over to the wagon Kalana and Ruru were in.

A horn blew over the now empty village, and the engines suddenly sputtered to life. Mewtwo nearly jumped when he heard how poorly the engines were running. The wagons lurched forward. The wood creaked and the wheels slowly pressed across the sand, and the huts moved past them. Mewtwo could see their outlines through the thin cloth spread over the wagon. He sighed and turned his head to look at the driver holding onto two steel lever which most likely steered the wheels. He felt like they had only moved a few feet, and the huts were still crawling past the wagon at a snail's pace. Mewtwo sighed again and stared out the front of the wagon.

Kalana saw Mewtwo was feeling restless she leaned over to speak to him. "Don't worry, we'll pick up speed once we leave the village." She said.

"I see. I thought we would be going this speed the whole trip." He replied.

Kalana stifled back a laugh. "No silly! It would take months at this speed! Really, once we get going faster it will still take a week to make it all the way across the desert to the Blue Gerudo village." She said.

A few minutes later, the last lookout tower was behind the last wagon, which was now part of an organized formation. The Elder was the driver of the headmost wagon, and the others followed in a 'V' pattern. Because of the number of wagons, the 'V' was lopsided, and one leg was longer than the other. The left leg was the longer leg, and Mewtwo was on the hindmost wagon of the right leg.

Suddenly, the engines smoothed out. The unhealthy puttering eased into a smooth hum and the wagons began to speed up. Mewtwo looked back to see the villages diminishing in the distance. The sun was burning harshly in the sky, and the thin cloth provided surprising protection from the sun. The inside of the wagon was surprisingly cool considering desert heat and six other Gerudos were cramped up in there with them.

Suddenly, the harsh sputtering of the engines smoothed out into a soft hum, and the wagons gently accelerated. The once harsh sputtering eased into a gentle, almost lulling hum. Mewtwo leaned back and pulled his tail out from under him. It poked Kalana, who was sitting next to him. She smiled wryly and pushed it away. Mewtwo chuckled and held it in his lap.

"Sorry, it's kinda cramped in here." He said.

Kalana maintained her cheerful tone. "You'll have to get used to it, we'll be traveling for just a bit over a week!" She said with a twinkle in her eye.

"That's right!" Ruru chimed in. Her head popped out from behind her sister.

Kalana laughed and pushed her sister back playfully. Mewtwo laughed and Kalana reached over and tickled her sister again. Ruru laughed happily. Another Gerudo next to Ruru sighed and shook her head. Kalana stopped tickling Ruru, and sighed. Mewtwo leaned back and looked out of the back of the wagon. The neverchanging constant landscape whizzed by at a brisk pace. Mewtwo gave a rough estimate of around fifty miles per hour in his head, and he marveled at the stability of the seemingly flimsy wooden wagons, which were now speeding across the dunes.

Hours passed at this pace, and there was no detectible change in the desert. The dunes all passed in uniform, and the wagons scaled them and dove down them smoothly, like a ship on the sea. The sun had passed it's apex in the sky and was slowly sinking towards the horizon. Still the wagons rocketed along the dunes.

Mewtwo was lulled almost to sleep by the smooth humming of the motors and the endless infinity of the dunes. The only thing that kept him from drifting off completely was the burning bright sun.

Mewtwo was jolted out of his hypnotic state when suddenly Kalana fell sideways onto him. He looked over to see her fast asleep, breathing gently. She grabbed his tail and snuggled it like a teddy bear. Mewtwo stifled back a painful cry. His tail was very sensitive, and Kalana was squeezing it pretty hard. Tears ran down his cheek, and he didn't know whether they were from the pain streaking up his tail or the emotion that was gripping him. Kalana snored gently and squeezed harder. Mewtwo's face turned beet red and he groaned quietly.

The other Gerudos in the wagon, except the driver of course, were sleeping soundly. Ruru was leaning on Kalana as Kalana snuggled Mewtwo's tail. Mewtwo felt like his backside was on fire. He tried to tolerate the pain and let Kalana sleep, but after half an hour the pain became unbearable. Mewtwo grabbed Kalana's ponytail and yanked hard.

Kalana stirred slightly, but did not let go. Mewtwo groaned and pulled his tail away from her. She still maintained her grip and slept the same. "She has a grip stronger than a Pinsir and sleeps deeper than a Snorlax." Mewtwo thought to himself. He looked to make sure everyone was asleep, and concentrated his power on Kalana. Her grip loosened, and Mewtwo pulled his tail over to the other side.

Mewtwo sighed with relief and laid back against the wagon's side. He was startled again when Kalana latched onto his arm. He chuckled and let Kalana have it. At least this wouldn't hurt.

Chapter XIII

_The Blue Gerudo tribe has always been looked down upon by the other three tribes as inferior. Living far east, they are the tribe closest to the heart of the empire and a few radical individuals believe they are allied with the empire. Some scoff at them, believing that just a few miles to the east are the remains of the Hylian kingdom, and possibly a good supply of water and food. But the Blue Gerudos fear to travel any farther East, because an atmosphere of evil seems to hang heavy the farther east that one travels._

The sun was now touching the horizon behind the wagon band. Mewtwo was once again lulled into a near hypnotic state by the gentle hum of the engines, and the Gerudos in the wagon were still sound asleep. Mewtwo was too conked out to notice that the wagons were slowly decelerating. When the wagons slowed down to a crawl-like pace, their engines began sputtering loudly. The sound jolted all the Gerudos awake. Mewtwo shook his head, and Kalana yawned lazily and sat up, releasing Mewtwo's arm. The engines of the wagons fell quiet, and Kalana realized that she had been squeezing Mewtwo's arm.

"I'm so sorry! That happens every time I go on these trips…I end up squeezing the next thing my arms meet." Kalana said. Her face showed embarrassment and shame, and she quickly jumped out of the wagon, followed by the other Gerudos.

"Did she squeeze you?" Ruru asked before jumping out.

"Yes, and rather hard." Mewtwo said, smiling. "Don't worry, it was alright."

Ruru laughed and hopped out of the wagon. Mewtwo stayed in the wagon, choosing to follow with his eyes. He saw that the wagons had stopped in an eerily flat plain. It was still desert, and it was still all sand, it was just eerily flat without a dune in sight.

Mewtwo jumped out of the wagon as a few Gerudos stripped it of its cloth canvas. He watched as they used the fabric from the wagons to build primitive temporary tents. The Gerudos were also emptying one of the cargo wagons. Mewtwo recognized the same food crates that the Gerudos had stolen on the raid. He felt his stomach growling, so he jumped out of the wagon and walked out into the new campsite.

Once everyone had eaten, the sun had fully set. Most of the Gerudos had gone to bed, but a few stayed up for Guard duty. Kalana, who was originally a Village Guard, was one of them. Mewtwo was sleepy, and was going to bed, but he needed to ask Kalana one question before he went to bed.

"There's one thing I'm curious about," Mewtwo said, "How can the Gerudos sleep through the entire day and then go to sleep at night like this?"

"Well, the week we travel is in preparation for the week we are going to spend at the other Tribe's Village. During that time the festivities go on night and day, and hardly any sleep is to be had. We've accustomed ourselves to get extra sleep on the way there." Kalana answered.

"That's impressive…and I think I should probably try to follow suit now. I'm going to bed." Mewtwo said.

"Good night! Sleep well!" Kalana said as Mewtwo walked off to find a tent.

Mewtwo stood alone, floating in an empty void. The blackness stretched into infinity, and Mewtwo stood in awe at the sheer emptiness of it all. It reminded him of the same feeling of sheer sadness he got after his rages. He floated freely for seemingly an eternity, until a sound echoed through the emptiness. It was a scream, and it echoed horribly through the void. It was the shrill shriek of a Gerudo woman, and Mewtwo jerked his head around to see where it came from.

As the scream faded, a red glow formed a few feet away from Mewtwo was standing. Mewtwo floated over to it and saw it swirling like a soup. It formed an image. Blurring at first, Mewtwo made out the form of the Gerudo village. Gerudos buzzed around the market, and the village was full of life. Then, the sand shook, and the ground rumbled. Dark clouds formed in the sky over the village, and the Gerudos stopped what they were doing to look up. The clouds gathered, and the sky rumbled. Out of the black clouds streaked bolts of lightning. The lightning wasn't normal either, but cracking streaks of dark energy. Each bolt flew downwards and struck a Gerudo dead on the spot. Soon all of them were dead, and the huts and bodies were swallowed by the sand as the earth opened up in a mighty cataclysm.

A voice of darkness then whispered across the void as the glow closed up.

"Go into the East in a week and a half, or this will come to pass." The dark voice echoed.

Mewtwo cried and shook his head. Two red eyes appeared in the darkness, burning crimson and focusing on Mewtwo. Mewtwo closed his eyes, but the glow burned through his eyelids and into his mind, seeing all.

Mewtwo sat up in his bed, covered in a cold sweat. The cold of the desert night greeted him as he panted in fear. He wiped his forehead and looked around. The thin fabric of the tent seemed to close in, and Mewtwo shook his head and climbed out of the tent. The air was chilled, and the tents were silent. Torches burned here and there, but mostly the night was eerily black. A whisper of breeze floated in the air, and the atmosphere was serene and calming. Mewtwo took a deep breath and let the tightness and stress flow from him.

As Mewtwo sat on the frigid sand, the slight wind and the cold air had a notable soothing effect on him. The nightmare left his mind, and he looked up at the stars. He didn't notice, but the sigh of the wind and the soothing darkness was lulling him back to sleep. He lay back against the sand, and his eyes closed without him noticing. He slipped into sleep, yet he still saw the stars blinking and felt the sand against his back.

As the soothing desert breeze still caressed Mewtwo's face, even as he lay snoozing. He gazed at the stars, and noticed one star was glowing quite bright. He followed it with his eyes as it seemed to move from near the horizon down into the middle of the sky. It was apparent that it was not a star as it hovered and floated down, glowing a warm green. As it floated down towards the sands, it took on a human form. The form of a little girl descended and alight softly on the sand in front of Mewtwo. Her green glow faded, and Mewtwo saw the warm smiling face of a little girl. Something in the back of his mind stirred.

"Hello Mewtwo." She said.

Mewtwo was silent. His mind stirred, and the girl seemed vaguely familiar to him.

"My you've gotten bigger!" The girl said, giggling. "It has been so many years since we saw each other. Don't you remember?" She said.

Mewtwo shook his head. He stared as his mind throbbed. He knew that he knew this girl, but his memory was fogged.

"Of course you don't! My father had to put you to sleep for many years so you could forget. My name is Ai." She said.

There was no rush of memories, no epiphany, but rather a simple click. Mewtwo remembered the time, he must have still been a child in the cloning tube, when Ai reached out to his mind. He knew little about her, but she came to him, comforted him, and showed him the world in her thoughts. Then she faded away into the darkness, leaving him horribly alone. Soon things went black.

"You remember now?" Ai asked.

"Yes. What happened? Why did you leave me?" Mewtwo asked.

"You're old enough to understand now. You see, my father ran the clone lab you were made in. At the same time he was cloning you, he was cloning me. I had been killed in an accident years before, and he couldn't accept the loss of me. He tried several times, but the process didn't work. My body kept falling apart in the tube and I died again and again, with full memory of it all. If only he knew the pain he was inflicting." Ai said, a tear rolling down her face.

"It was his latest attempt, and your tube was next to mine. We were communicating telepathically. Then, as we talked, my body died. I disappeared, and that's all there is." Ai said.

"I remembered, the last thing you said to me was, 'Life is wonderful', but I didn't understand. Now I do." Mewtwo said.

"Life is a gift, a great blessing, but can only be maintained by order and balance. You are about to face a great trial, and your true identity shall come into question." Ai said.

"What do you mean by 'My true identity?" Mewtwo asked.

"It is not for you to know yet, just remember one thing before I go…no matter what happens, embrace yourself, or all shall be lost." Ai said. She lifted off of the sand, and slowly faded back into the desert night sky. Mewtwo oddly didn't feel sad that she was gone, rather, happy that his life was now complete in his memory. He lay back in the sand again, and the dream faded away into closed sleep.

A/N: This chunk was a bit smaller than the other chunks, but that doesn't mean it isn't as interesting, right? Review please!


	6. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 5

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ**  
Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the FIFTH Chunk. Yes I am back in school again, which explains the slowness of this chapter. This will also be the only chapter we will have again for a long while, mainly for this reason also. So what do I ask in these times of renewed school? Read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter XIV

_Not much exploration has ever happened in the East by Modern Gerudos. Not many reasons are given, but a universal fear of the East keeps any and all questions unasked. Only a few dared ventured into the East, and they never found anything but ruins. One of these ruins is particularly noteworthy, however. An eternal monument said to be built to the desert goddess still stands in the East to this day. Only the oldest and wisest Elder's remember its secrets. According to legends, it was one of six temples erected in honor to the gods of the elements. It was called the _'Desert Colossus'_, and was told to be the hideout of the original Gerudo queen, Nabooru. The aforementioned explorers did not find anything of value in the ruin, but it was noted how the temple seemed to be ageless, still standing almost completely undamaged as if protected by the very Desert Goddess it depicts._

Once again, the caravan left early in the morning. Just as the sun pinched up over the horizon, Kalana and Ruru found Mewtwo asleep on the desert sand. He saw that the tents had already been converted back to covers for the wagons, and everything was packed up once again. He, Kalana, and Ruru all jumped into the headmost wagon so that they could be with the Elder on this small portion of the trip.

The wagons set off, and soon regained their amazing pace and sped across the morning twilight sand flats. Mewtwo rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was still incredibly sleepy, and wanted to lay back and return to the relaxing void. He was rudely interrupted by Kalana's hands shaking him hard.

"Don't go to sleep now!" She whispered. "Early mornings are when the sandworms are out hunting! We need to all stay awake in case we're attacked! " She said.

Mewtwo moaned and shook his head hard, trying to wake himself up a bit more, but to no avail. The sky was still bluish, and only a few streaks of dawn were arcing from the horizon.

"Sis says you used to be nocturnal!" Ruru said, leaning around Kalana. "Boy that changed quickly!" She said, giggling.

Mewtwo smiled. "Oh yes, I was. It only took me the first week to make the actual adjustment, but it took the rest of the month to get used to it!" Mewtwo said, smiling.

Ruru laughed and sat back. She apparently had no problem being up this early, but this was probably because of all the extra sleep she and the other Gerudos had gotten. Mewtwo sat back as well, and nearly drifted off the sleep again. He pinched himself to stay awake, but the cool wind and soft dawn were very relaxing. He was about to give up and doze off when a voice saved him.

"Yes, your eyes are amazing." Said a middle aged Gerudo woman from the front of the wagon. "The deepest purple I've seen in years. Then again, the only purple I've seen in years." She said.

Mewtwo unconsciously looked the other direction. Despite his bond with the Gerudos, he still felt uneasy about his appearance, and shied away when one tried to examine him.

"I see no evil in them either." The woman said. "I understand your appearance is frightening, but it's easy to tell your heart is not evil by a simple glance in your eyes. It's too bad my foolish sisters are too scared of you to look in them, or their delusions about you being evil would be abolished. There's just something about you that is kind and gentle." She said.

"You raise a very good point Madiri." The Elder shouted back from the front of the wagon.

Mewtwo went into thought for a moment. This woman was named Madiri, and it seemed she trusted him as well. He was hurt mildly at the thought of her sisters believing he was evil. He would have to talk to them, but would need their names first.

"What are your sister's names?" Mewtwo burst out, sounding almost vulgar in his tone of voice. The morning air seemed to shudder.

"Why they're Quidiri and W'diri, why do you ask?" Madiri asked.

"Just curious." Mewtwo muttered. He felt like he could slap himself, and almost did for a second. All Gerudo eyes in the wagon focused on him, and he felt awfully awkward.

"Goin' to talk some sense into them?" Ruru asked, poking her head out again.

Mewtwo laughed weakly, and a few mild chuckles rolled around the wagon. The eyes lifted off of Mewtwo and returned to their own business. Mewtwo almost kissed Ruru for the relief. The wagon was silent for awhile, and Mewtwo once again began drifting off. He was interrupted once more by Kalana.

"Oh all right you can sleep!" She said. "But by sleeping consider it giving us license to use any method to wake you up in the event of an attack!"

Mewtwo chuckled. He was not sure what she meant, but he was so incredibly sleepy that he didn't care if he would find out the hard way. He laid back and fell asleep quickly and without disturbance.

Mewtwo was woken slowly but surely by the sun. The heat of the desert and the burning light of the sun filtered down through the wagon's cover and through his eyelids. He yawned, stretched, and sat up. The sun was now above the horizon, but it was still early morning. The Gerudos were all asleep again, except the Elder, who was driving the wagon.

"Well, you're awake again." The Elder said.

Mewtwo turned his head curiously. The Elder had a serious tone in her voice. "Yep. But is anything bothering you?" Mewtwo asked.

"Well, you were sleeping out on the sands! What were you thinking?" The Elder said sternly. She hadn't raised her voice, but was obviously upset.

Mewtwo was no getting into the habit of shaking his head at every bad thought. "It was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that shocked me awake. I wandered out of my tent to get some fresh air. I must have fallen asleep while I sat and took in the stars." Mewtwo said, omitting his vision of Ai. He was still not sure if it was real or a dream, the way sleep blended with reality.

"I know how you feel. I've had nightmares all my life. But I've never let it get to me." The elder said, pausing. She was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again in a hushed tone. "Do you see a pair of burning crimson eyes etching into your very soul?"

Mewtwo nearly gasped with shock at the coincidence. He could practically see those eyes eating away at his body again. "Yes." He said in a low tone.

"Every Elder has always been plagued by these images in her dreams. From their very birth from the Honorable Mother, to their very last recalled dream, we've all seen the eyes." The Elder said.

Mewtwo shuddered vigorously. The Elder looked back at him. "Never once has an ordinary Gerudo had this dream…But I must take into consideration that you're not an ordinary Gerudo." The Elder said, squelching her face up in thought. "You do have those powers after all." She muttered.

Mewtwo scoffed. "We've already come into the range of another tower." He said. "I couldn't use my powers again if I wanted to." Just to make sure, Mewtwo tried to pick up a box in the back of the wagon. He was greeted with the familiar lack of energy. He felt dry, like he hadn't drunk any water in days.

"Still, I must admit your senses must be more attuned than ours." The Elder said with a quizzical look on her face. "No explanation has ever been given to the eyes, but over time they have been given the name 'The Eyes of the Empire' because you can tell that they come from the Far East where they say the Empire is stationed." The Elder said.

The memory of the Black Mewtwo came back to Mewtwo's mind. Suddenly, a connection snapped in his brain. The Black one also had crimson eyes.

"Wait! Remember when we were attacked by the Evil copy of me in the station?" Mewtwo burst out. "He has red eyes too! He must be the one haunting the Gerudo dreams!"

The Elder turned her head slightly, and then shook it. "It couldn't be. I know about the demons of old, and they could shift shapes with ease. What attacked us was a demon who took your shape in order to frighten the villagers out of their trust in you! I knew something about you was special, but now that a demon has tried to undermine our trust in you, I know you hold some significance!" The Elder said, now in a lighter tone.

Mewtwo feigned a chuckle. "I guess they did the opposite of what they were trying to do then huh?" He said.

"Absolutely. But still, the red eyes correlation is very disturbing." The Elder said.

"So is the name that the Gerudos have given them. Now I feel like the Empire is watching me." Mewtwo said. He shuddered again.

The conversation between them seemed to die right then and there. Mewtwo sat eagerly awaiting more talk to get those eyes off of his mind, but the Elder sat silent. The hum of the engines was no longer soothing, but rather intrusive as his mind roiled in thought. They seemed to take on a higher pitch, which pierced his thoughts as he tried to prod into the mystery of the Empire. He now knew there was a connection between it and the Black Mewtwo, and the nightmare he had, but the noise jumbled his thoughts and he couldn't think straight.

Hours passed, and the sun moved across the sky as the wagons rocketed over the mysteriously flat sands. Noon came and went. Mewtwo couldn't sleep like the Gerudos, who were accustomed to it. His mind wandered by itself, and it seemed to him that whenever it drifted back to the subject of the Empire, his head began to pound. He shrugged it off as stress and thought about something else. Soon the sun was closing on the opposite horizon, and Mewtwo felt like he was going to melt into the wagon. He was incredibly hot and uncomfortable, and his tail was cramping up. The Elder still held on to her iron silence. At one point Mewtwo was sure she had fallen asleep, but this illusion was broken whenever she adjusted the controls on the vehicle. Time itself had seemed to stop, and the large wagon was now royally uncomfortable.

What finally broke the monotony was not welcomed though. A low rumble made itself audible over the droning of the engines. Mewtwo snapped back into reality. He recognized the rumble as the same one made by the sandworm. The Elder looked back at him with a face dominated by shock. "By the gods!" She whispered, and then whipped around and pulled out a horn.

The resulting blast dominated the sound of the engines and the worm. Mewtwo heard a rumbling blast, and looked back to see the sandworm erupt out of the ground almost a mile behind them. It turned to face them and flew towards them in its jump. Another horn rose from the wagon on the left behind them, and soon every wagon followed suit. The sandworm smashed into the sand still about 1000 feet behind the backmost wagon, but it was obviously gaining.

Kalana and the other Gerudos in the lead wagon with Mewtwo burst awake. They rummaged through a nearby box, and pulled out four bows and a quiver of arrows. Kalana, Madiri, and one other Gerudo strung the bows and each knocked an arrow. They stood at the back of the wagon, ready for the worm to emerge.

And emerge it did. It burst out of the sands almost 100 feet away from the rear wagon. Mewtwo was shocked at how fast it was moving. Immediately the three let fly, and the arrows flew straight into the worm. Arrows rocketed up from all of the wagons to find the resting places in the worm. The sandworm didn't let out a sound, but continued on its course until gravity caught it and pulled it down. It burrowed down just ten feet behind the backmost wagon. The impact knocked the wagon forward, and its flimsiness showed when it completely burst apart. Mewtwo gasped in horror. Luckily, the formation was spread wide enough to prevent a domino effect. But the sight of the Driver being thrown and crushed was horrible.

The rumble passed underneath their wagon, and Mewtwo imagined the worm bursting up underneath them, swallowing them all. But it was moving almost ten times faster than them, and it passed quickly. Kalana, Madiri, and the third Gerudo ran up and stood at the front, arrows at the ready.

Soon, the worm burst upwards, nearly fifty feet ahead. It turned and closed distance with the wagons. "Make this shot count!" Kalana shouted. The arrows flew true, up and each of the three into an eye. The worm cried out and swerved to the side. Arrows from the other wagons embedded into its side. It lost its momentum and slammed into the sand on its side.

The wagons slowed and circled the worm. After ten minutes they were sure it was dead. They then turned around and stopped at the remnants of the back wagon that had been destroyed.

Fortunately, it was one of the cargo wagons. The driver was the only one aboard. She had been crushed underneath the wreckage. She had died instantly when a wooden beam smashed her in the back of the neck, breaking her spine. Mewtwo stood over her solemnly. He knew that it would be impossible to resurrect her, even if he still had his powers. He turned and saw that the other Gerudos were moving quickly, salvaging all of the cargo without stopping to pay respects. Soon, everything that was of use was packed up, and Mewtwo was whisked off onto the wagon with Kalana and the others. No one spoke as the wagon's remains shrank into the horizon.

Mewtwo felt sickened. Nobody had even paused to look at the dead Gerudo. Kalana, Ruru, Madiri, the Elder, or any other Gerudo in the wagon with him showed any sign of emotion on their faces. Mewtwo wanted to scream at them. Didn't they just care that one of them had just died? His tail twitched involuntarily, and he had to sit directly on it to keep it still. He blocked out the ensuing pain and tried to shift his thoughts. Unfortunately, he was running out of pleasant things to think about. He felt as though his life was souring again, and the thought of leaving via dimensional portal surged up strong. It danced around his head, taunting him.

A clear voice of reason rose in his mind. "_Cowardly! The Gerudos saved your life, took you in and healed you, and you want to leave them like this?_" The voice cried angrily. "_You are indebted to them! You cannot leave them without repaying them!_" it cried.

"_And what am I supposed to do?_" Mewtwo countered to himself. "_It's not like I can just hand them a few thousand yen! Money has never meant anything to me, and it's useless to the Gerudos! Once again, what exactly am I supposed to do?_" He asked himself.

"_You're being a moron!_" the voice answered. "_Money? Ha! You're right in saying it's worthless to them. Your actions speak louder than words. You need to do something for them._" It said.

Mewtwo wondered if this was even him thinking. It sounded unlike him, but he could sense when someone intruded on his mind, even when he was without his powers. The elder was right, his senses were very acute.

The rest of the drive that day was uneventful. They rode quietly for the rest of daylight, and stopped and camped at sunset. Mewtwo slept soundly, without having any dreams at all whatsoever. The third day into the journey was mind-numbingly boring. Mewtwo sat in the wagon doing nothing the entire day. He envied the Gerudos to the extreme. They slept through almost the whole day, spared from the torturous boredom and heat. The entire day was reminiscent of the inside of a Pokeball, only with a beating sun and horrid heat. Mewtwo slept well after this day of torture.

The fourth day followed the same suit. The boredom and the heat wore at Mewtwo's mind. There was no lack of food and water however, as the cargo car that had been destroyed carried the trading goods instead of the food and water. But still, Mewtwo could not waste the water by pouring it over himself, as he wanted desperately to do. The day seemed to take pleasure in creeping by just to torment him. When the end of the day finally came, the cool of the night was the sweetest thing Mewtwo ever felt in his life. His cool cloth bedstrip was more welcoming than ever when he fell into it.

The fifth day seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Mewtwo. Only two more days of this hellish trip, and he would enjoy the cool comfortable hut interior and some decent grilled meat. For the first time, Mewtwo's mind drifted toward the upcoming instead of the past. He wondered what was going to happen at the Blue Gerudo Village. What kind of ceremonies would occur? What food would they eat? These thoughts kept Mewtwo's mind mostly occupied for the entire day. The heat and boredom were a little more tolerable that day. Still, the bedstrip was a welcome sight.

The sixth day was a polar opposite of the fifth. Mewtwo was now becoming insanely impatient. He knew they would arrive tomorrow night, but the anticipation was driving him mad. It didn't seem possible, but it was even hotter that day than any of the others. Mewtwo panted and gasped in the heat. The flimsy cloth cover seemed powerless against the merciless sun. Mewtwo longed for water, but they were starting to run low and were rationing. That night, the chill and the bedstrip were more welcoming than they had ever been.

Chapter XV

_The Gerudos have always been skilled in the arts of the staff and the blade. When a young Gerudo came of age, she would first receive training in the ways lf the staff. Then, after mastering the staff, the Gerudo would train with the sword. If she makes it this far, she then receives her own double ended scimitar. It is vital for all Village Elders to have these skills, because the Elders aren't only wise leaders, but powerful warriors that lead the Gerudos into battle._

Mewtwo awoke to the sound of a Gerudo warning horn. He sprung up and ran out of his tent without thinking. The camp was enflamed with activity. Buzzing everywhere were Gerudos with scimitars. Suddenly, the horn blew again, twice in quick succession. The bustle reversed direction towards the sound of the horn. Mewtwo followed with the crowd, still not fully awake. A few wooden staffs were lying on the ground, one of which Mewtwo grabbed as he passed. He didn't have any special training with it, but he didn't want to go unarmed.

The crowd of Gerudos congealed around the Elder, who had blown the horn. Mewtwo pushed his way to the front to get a good look at what was going on. The Elder and Kalana were restraining an unfamiliar, wild looking Gerudo who had a large scar across her forehead like a tiara. She was struggling hard and growling something in Hylian.

"What we have here is a lone thief." The Elder proclaimed loudly. "Kalana caught her stealing a red silk slip from one of our cargo wagons." The thief struggled to no avail, and looked over the crowd. She saw Mewtwo, and let out a shrill scream, shattering the calm.

"Demon! Demon!" She cried. A few Gerudos in the crowd murmured, and suddenly Mewtwo was no longer being crowded. The Gerudos around him stepped away.

"Silence!" The Elder cried. "Mewtwo is of no concern to you! He has proven himself to us and there is no need for you to interfere with our matters! Now, name your tribe!" The Elder said with a tone of rage and contempt in her voice.

"I don't belong to any of your so-called 'tribes'!" The thief sneered. "I don't follow the Empire!"

"Neither do we!" The Elder blasted, fire in her wise eyes.

"Liar!" The thief snarled. "There's proof of it right there!" She cried, pointing at the bewildered Mewtwo.

"ENOUGH!" The Elder exploded, holding her scimitar to the thief's neck. The word echoed across the sands, and Mewtwo winced. "Another word and I will personally see your head rolling on the sands!" the Elder growled.

"Word!" the thief whispered, and moving quickly, kicked her left leg with her right leg. A sword jutted out of her right pantleg and embedded in Kalana's leg above her knee. Kalana cried out and let go of her grip, and all in the same second, the crowd gasped, Kalana cried out, and the thief broke free. The thief pulled the bloody sword out of her pants and charged at Mewtwo.

"Let my sisters free!" She cried zealously, and swung her sword. Mewtwo blocked with the staff he was now happy he had picked up. The blade cut two thirds through the staff, and it started to bend. Mewtwo looked into the thief's eyes, and saw the same intense, black hatred he had felt when he went into a rage. Then, the thief's eyes went glassy and she fell limp on the ground. Standing behind her was Ruru holding a staff of her own.

The wagons left late the morning of this seventh day. The thief was left alone, tied up with only enough food and water for one day. This was practically a death sentence this far out in the desert. Mewtwo felt sorry for her. He related to her, simply because she too was a misfit in her own world, and felt the same rage as he did. He doubted why he even let them leave her like that after a while.

This little incident also shook Mewtwo's sense of security as well. He knew that his appearance was frightening to the Gerudos, and not all of them trusted him, but this little brush with the rogue was a shocking reminder, like a bucket of cold water after acclimating to the heat.

After the wagon had reached its cruising speed, Fara climbed forward and sat next to Kalana and unwrapped her bandage. The wound was deep, and pierced several layers of muscle. Kalana groaned and panted. Fara shook her head and produced a bottle of red liquid that Mewtwo recognized right away as the same potion she had given him almost two months ago. Kalana gulped it down greedily. A few minutes later, the wound was gone and she was fine.

As the wagon rolled on over the day, Mewtwo became more and more restless. The lone thief's raid hadn't delayed hadn't delayed them too much, but it would be nightfall by the time they arrived tonight. The day passed slowly, but Mewtwo was thankful that it wasn't as hot as it had been yesterday. Instead of sleeping, the Gerudos meditated all day.

When Mewtwo asked about this, Kalana replied, "It's for the festival games."

"Festival games?" Mewtwo repeated.

"Yes, in celebration of the union of the two tribes to share resources and fight the Empire." Kalana answered.

"Are we actually going to fight the Empire?" Mewtwo asked.

"Well, yes and no. If you mean 'Are we going to war?', then no. But at the end of the Two Week's Festival, both tribes go on a joint raid against the tower." Kalana said.

Mewtwo turned his head, thinking. If one tribe of 40 Gerudos could take a tower, then imagine what 80 could do! Suddenly, a new set of questions leapt into Mewtwo's mind. How can the Gerudos keep defeating such an advanced force? He remembered the bullet-proof armor they had, but even that couldn't make them invincible?

Just then the wagon hit a bump, jolting Mewtwo back into the real world. He looked back and saw a rock in the sand trailing behind them. "How odd" He thought to himself.

Hours passed, and Mewtwo surveyed his dismal little pseudo-family. Everyone was meditating except the Elder, who was driving, and Ruru. Mewtwo decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, thanks for saving me." He said softly, as not to disturb the meditators.

"We're even now!" The smiling Ruru said with a wink. Her face was beaming, ever excited about the festival.

A small pause ensued, and Mewtwo tried again. "So you're skilled with the staff?" he asked.

"Mom is training me with it. I'm not really good with it though." Ruru said, her smile fading a bit.

"That's silly! Look how bad I did, and you pulled my tail out of the fire!" Mewtwo said.

Ruru giggled while daring a look at Mewtwo's tail. "You're so nice!" She said, her smile back with full force. After another short pause, Ruru broke into a question. "Hey, why aren't you preparing for the games?"

Mewtwo sighed heavily. "Looking the way I do? I would scare the other tribe away!" He said forlornly.

Ruru frowned. "I wish people wouldn't judge other people by how they looked." She said, her chin in her hands.

"No matter how hard you try to get away from it, there's always prejudice and hatred wherever you go." Mewtwo said longingly. There was silence. When Mewtwo finally realized what he had just said, he felt a warm feeling inside himself, almost like becoming whole, and for the first time, he fell asleep during the drive.

Swirling galaxies spun through space, and Mewtwo gazed at them, reaching out and touching them. Suddenly, they fell away, and he was shaken awake. The inside of the wagon and Kalana's face emerged from the black mist. Mewtwo rubbed his eyes and yawned, sitting up. He saw that the sun was nearly gone on the horizon behind them. He had slept the whole day! He was amazed, he had never slept so soundly, long, and without disturbing dreams. He took a deep breath, held it, and let go slowly. He felt renewed, purified almost, and his head was clear for the first time in days.

"I guess it was your turn to sleep in today huh?" Ruru said, cutting Kalana off when she was about to say something.

"Please remember to speak in turn?" Kalana said sharply.

"Sorry." Ruru said, a hurt look on her face as she sat back.

Kalana shook her head and spoke. "We're almost there, about half an hour left."

"That's good," Mewtwo said, "But weren't you a bit mean to Ruru?" He continued in a low voice.

"I guess you're right." Kalana said with a guilty look on her face. "She went through three months of living hell as an Imperial slave and here I am snapping at her for interrupting me."

Kalana finished her sentence, then turned around and gave her sister a crushing hug. Ruru made fake choking noises, and then they both laughed. The other Gerudos in the wagon, not meditating anymore, smiled at this heartwarming sight, and even the Elder looked back and smiled. Mewtwo felt like he was a part of the family again, and even Madiri smiled.

After thirty minutes, it was now completely dark. Out just a few miles in the distance glowed great bonfires. Mewtwo knew that they were now approaching the Village. The Elder downshifted the engine, which whined and coughed painfully. The same sounds issued from the wagons behind them.

Suspiciously, the noises from some of the wagons behind them went quiet. Before anyone could look back, a whizzing noise and a thump were heard from the front of the wagon, and the engine sputtered out, dead.

A/N: I've taken down my review responses in this Author's Note due to further specifications against interactivity.


	7. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 6

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the SIXTH Chunk. Well I've finally had time to crawl out from under the homework to write the next chunk! I had a whopping 7 projects to do over the last two weeks, and the time before that was no different. I hope you guys enjoy the next chunk, because I expect another wait for the next one just as long as this wait!

Chapter XVI

_When a Gerudo dies, death ceremonies are solemn, with no special adornments, speeches, or any other such "needless fiddle fadddle" as one Elder put it. The other Gerudos would bury her in full dress, holding her scimitar and staff by her sides, still ever ready for battle. No special days of mourning would occur, and the kin of the deceased would continue on living normally. Over many thousands of years of despair at the hands of the Empire, the Gerudos have adapted to never show their negative emotions, for if one were to see their sister die in battle, they could not break down and cry or they would be killed or enslaved. And the bleak desert existence also required a hardened mind and sharpened instincts to survive, and emotions like this would get in the way._

Two, maybe three wagons rushed past, and several warning horns were heard from the distance. The distinct whizzing sound was heard again, and Mewtwo caught a glimpse of an arrow flying through the air, hitting one of the wagons that had outstripped them. It was pitch black out, and the only way he saw it was because it was glowing brightly. The wagon it collided with rolled to a stop.

"Arrow attack!" The Elder said, jumping down from the driver's seat. She brought the warning horn to her lips and let out a mighty blast.

Things happened quicker that Mewtwo could think. The last few wagons that had passed them were shot down quickly as well, and the Gerudos let loose a single volley of return arrows before they were pinned down. It was the dead of night after all, and all of the arrows missed their marks.

The Gerudos hid under the bottoms of the wagons in order to take refuge from the merciless volleys. While scrambling for cover, the Gerudos took some hits. A glowing arrow grazed Fara's shoulder, leaving a shallow gash. Madiri had one embedded in her right foot, and was moaning in pain. Several of the arrows had come close to hitting Mewtwo in the head, but he shook it off as coincidence as he had climbed under the wagon.

There was a long, draw out period of silence. No arrows sliced through the calm air, and the bonfires glowed warmly in the short distance. The Elder carefully reached out her hand, holding a staff. After nothing happened, she began to climb out.

Mewtwo heard a quiet whizzing sound, and acted quickly. He grabbed the Elder's ankles and yanked her back under the wagon as hard as he could. A light 'Fwip' punctuated the arrow landing in the sand where the Elder's head had been. She did a double take at the arrow and Mewtwo, and her face turned quite pale.

"You never cease to amaze me." She said in a hushed voice.

Mewtwo shrugged, something else had caught his attention. He climbed out a bit, plucked the arrow out of the sand, and hastily crawled back under as three more arrows landed in unsuccessful attempts to skewer him. The arrow's white glow illuminated the motley faces of the Gerudos, and Mewtwo toyed with it in his paws while thinking. Something clicked in his mind, and he tossed the arrow aside and climbed out from under the wagon.

Gasps and cries of distress emanated out from under the wagon, but Mewtwo had his mind locked on the sound of the arrows. A little point of light moved slowly through the sky, as in slow motion. It crawled like an interstellar ant, and suddenly picked up speed and grew larger. Suddenly, it was rocketing straight down at Mewtwo's face. Ruru cried out as the arrow streaked down toward him, and then it jerked to a stop just inches from Mewtwo's forehead. Once again, gasps echoed out from under the wagon.

Mewtwo picked the arrow out of the air and examined it. The glow faded and disappeared, then Mewtwo tossed it to the ground. Three more arrows screeched to a halt in front of Mewtwo, then fell suddenly to the ground. He smirked and began walking. He picked up the pace as the arrows smashed themselves against his shield, and he was soon running in the direction that they were coming from. Once he was running as fast as he could, he jumped and took flight. He rocketed toward the single point on the horizon, and stopped inches from the face of a Gerudo carrying a bow. The Gerudo stood there, unflinching. She looked familiar, having a tiara shaped scar on her forehead, but Mewtwo wasn't paying attention since his temper was up.

"How dare you hurt my friends?" He boomed in his psychic voice.

The Gerudo woman was not intimidated. "Don't you mean your servants?" she hissed.

Mewtwo was about to fry her when suddenly she emitted a large blast of energy, catching him unawares and knocking him back into the now cool sands. His skin was slightly burned on his arms and face, and he was so incredibly surprised that his anger left him. He used his recover ability and stood up, brushing off the sand. An arrow immediately flew inches from his head. He kept his anger down and spoke.

"You really are a poor deluded woman aren't you?"

The thief laughed like a lunatic. "On the contrary, I'm the only one you haven't deluded, and you never will! Someday, I will find a way to topple your rule and free this world and my sisters!" She cried, and waved her hands in unintelligible gestures.

Mewtwo wondered just what the heck she was doing when a rather large bolt of lightning sprouted from her hands and leapt at him. He barely had enough reaction time to raise his energy shield to block it. It was easily absorbed with little harm.

"How are you doing that?" Mewtwo asked, his curiosity outweighing his anger.

"You act so stupid! Whenever one of your towers goes offline, I can use magic just as easily as you!" She shouted, reaching back to grab a staff.

"Magic?" Mewtwo sputtered, keeping his shield in place.

"Stop! You will not confuse me with your trickery!" She growled. Her staff had a small crystal orb on the top, which was now glowing. "Besides, you're about to get a nice demonstration!" She shouted.

Three large energy orbs formed around the crystal orb, and orbited it like planets. They rose up over her head and spun around quickly, and then charged forward toward Mewtwo. Mewtwo raised the shield's power, and the spheres smashed into it with catastrophic force. Instead of being absorbed however, they grew in size and gained force. Mewtwo didn't have time to be surprised, rather he raised the power input to his shield. The sphere crackled with electricity, and finally deflected off of the shield. Two of them flew off into the sky, and the third one hit the sand between them and exploded with great force. The shockwave knocked Mewtwo and the Gerudo backwards, and Mewtwo sensed another attack brewing. He formed a shadow ball and threw it for a preemptive strike, but he heard and energy clash through the disturbed sands and knew the Gerudo had blocked it. He quickly put another shield up ad a great fireball appeared out of the blinding sand.

The fireball dispersed easily over Mewtwo's shield like a blanket, and snuffed out. The sands slowly cleared, and the Gerudo fired another glowing arrow. Mewtwo blocked it and threw another shadow ball. She dodged and cackled maniacally.

"Despite all your little mines, soldiers and power, you still can't touch me!" she laughed, a twisted smile of insanity on her face.

Mewtwo couldn't take it any more. He reached into her mind and simply turned her consciousness off like a switch. She slumped to the ground, unharmed and sleeping like a baby. Mewtwo felt a kind of pity for her. He felt that if he were to just leave her with the bow, so he took it, the staff, and the quiver. He then realized that his fear was unfounded; there was only one arrow left in her quiver. He plucked it out and tossed it aside, chuckling. Then, another arrow appeared in its place. He did a double take and pulled out the new arrow. Another appeared in its place. He didn't know how this was possible, but it explained the endless volley.

When Mewtwo was sure that the Gerudo was unarmed, he took off and flew back to the wagon. The Elder and the others were still hiding underneath the wagon when he landed.

"I took care of everything." Mewtwo said nonchalantly, dropping the bow and quiver on the ground.

The Elder nearly shot out from under the wagon, and snatched the bow and quiver up like a snake striking. She examined them with a look of sheer shock on her face.

"The Sacred Arrows of the Light!" She said in a hushed voice of awe.

Gerudos slowly crept out from under the wagon, gathering around and staring in awe. The Elder held the bow and quiver out in her gauntleted hands and hushed whispers circulated through the little huddle.

"This is an artifact dating back to the ancient age of Hyrule! Wielded by the Hylian Hero, they smote down the wicked Gerudo King!"

Silence hovered over the crowded hovel of Gerudos. The Elder reached her hand into the quiver as the tension became palpable in the air. She grabbed the arrow, pulled it out, and a new one appeared. The Gerudos stood in silent amazement.

The Elder sliced into the silence with sudden words. "This has always been an heirloom of the line of Elders of the Blue Tribe! Where did you find it?" She asked, turning to face Mewtwo.

"An insane, lone Gerudo who tried to kill me." Mewtwo said. He remembered the scar on the woman's forehead and something clicked. "It was the thief! Remember the one who attacked me?"

The Elder scowled. "Such insanity that these evil times bring that a sister might steal an artifact like this and use it for terror." She said despondently.

"We have more pressing matters to think about now!" Kalana said, pushing her way up to them. She gestured toward the engine up in front of the wagon.

Mewtwo, the Elder, and Kalana walked around to the engine. A glowing arrow was stuck in the side, and fuel was pouring out of a severed rubber tube.

"It appears we will not be going anywhere for awhile." The Elder said, looking down in frustration.

Chapter XVII

_Despite the fact that Gerudo Elders have passed their legends down with utmost accuracy and detail, there are still wide gaps in known history. After the desert put enough distance between the Gerudos and Hylians to end the war, connections between them became nonexistent. The fate of these enigmatic peoples is still unknown._

And so the sun rose on the eighth day of the trip, and the Gerudos hauled their wagons into the Blue Tribe village. A guard on a lookout tower whistled, and Gerudos clad in Blue clothes poked their heads out of the disheveled huts.

Mewtwo sat in the back of a cargo wagon, tied up in a cloth sack and concealed between two boxes. Everyone knew that if he were to be seen by the other tribe, there would be a panic. Mewtwo needed to be introduced formally, like when he became an honorary member of the Red Tribe he knew so well.

As Mewtwo sat in the bag, the desert heat was amplified and the air felt like molasses. Mewtwo felt like he was being smothered by a great brown hand. His mind was melting in his skull, and he needed to distract himself in order to keep his sanity. In his unrest, he toyed with his powers. He looked into the past and saw himself fighting off the lone Gerudo thief and stealing her bow. He watched the Gerudos regrouping after the attack and hauling the wagons. He saw himself helping bear the weight and screwed his face up in frustration. He could have used his powers to teleport them, or the minimum to lift the wagons off their shoulders. But the memory of the Elder's fit last time he had done something like that proved a smarting reminder.

The wagon slowed to a stop, and there were several scattered shouts in Hylian. Mewtwo remembered his scanty few lessons in Hylian and tried to listen in. He was unsuccessful however in the fact that the sack muffled most of the words and they were talking too fast. But at one point, he was absolutely sure he picked out the words "Very late". He took in a deep sigh and settled into a comfortable position, as this could take awhile.

Mewtwo was awoken when the box next to him, which he was leaning on, was pulled away. He fell over in the sack and hit his head on the hard wooden floor of the wagon. He kept quiet, knowing that they had gotten to his wagon and were unloading it.

A constant chatter of Hylian peppered the air, and suddenly a sharp finger poked him through the sack, right on the tail. He winced but kept his mouth shut.

"Here's an odd one!" A Gerudo voice near him shouted.

"I think that's part of the Red Elder's personal baggage." Another voice farther away replied.

Whoever had spoken first suddenly grabbed the tied end of the sack and pulled. He was pulled off of the wagon, and hit the ground hard on his tail. He was sure his face was turning red as he held in the pain yell, and his backside felt like it was exploding in an apocalyptic fireball. Then he felt himself being dragged along the sand. His tail was being compressed between his body and the sand, and tears of pain streamed down his face. It was all he could do not to scream in agony. Suddenly the dragging motion ceased, and whoever was carrying him released her grip. He shifted lightly in his bag so as the get his tail out from under him, and smiled in pure relief.

"Any word on the magic presence?" A Gerudo voice asked.

"No, just heavy lumps of fabric brought by the Red Elder." Another voice, most likely his carrier, replied.

Mewtwo began sweating heavily when he remembered the Elder's explicit warning, "Never use your powers until we introduce you! The Blue Elder senses magic!" Mewtwo had looked into the past, and had gotten himself possibly discovered! He would have kicked himself if he weren't still imprisoned in this cloth sphere.

"If you see anything suspicious, tell me." The second voice said.

"Right!" His carrier said. She then grabbed the sack and carried on. Mewtwo heard her mutter something in Hylian, but couldn't make it out.

Soon, the dragging ceased again, and Mewtwo heard knocking on a wooden door. He then heard it creak open. His carrier said something in Hylian, and the familiar voice of the Elder said the Hylian word for "Thanks."

The door then creaked closed, and soft footsteps crossed the room to where the creaking issued, and a lock clicked. Then there was a rustling on the bag as the Elder untied it.

A blinding beam of light rammed into the dark sack, and Mewtwo jolted his head out and gasped for air. He was blinded by the daylight shining in through various windows in the room, but the feeling of fresh air in his lungs was more than enough to compensate. He felt like he had just drunk 3 liters of ice cold water.

"Are you all right?" The Elder asked urgently.

"Just glad I can breather again." Mewtwo replied, holding his hands to hiy eyes and drawing deep breaths.

The Elder stood up and darted around the room closing the animal skin drapes in a seemingly random order. Mewtwo uncovered his eyes, but even in partial light it was still uncomfortably bright.

"Thanks for that." Mewtwo said, blinking rapidly.

"Actually, it's so no-one looks in and sees you." The Elder replied.

"Oh, I see." Mewtwo said.

"Literally!" The Elder said, and they both chuckled a bit.

"Seriously though, we need to keep you hidden until I can ease you in during a good time." The Elder said, twisting one of her four foot ponytails in her fingers.

"So where will I stay?" Mewtwo asked.

The Elder walked over to another wooden door Mewtwo hadn't noticed, and pulled it open. It displayed a small storage room about 5 ft by 5 ft in dimension, and nearly eight feet to the ceiling. Shelves were supported by iron pegs drove into the rock walls, and canned food laid on every shelf.

"I guess you don't need to worry about feeding me either?" Mewtwo asked, walking in.

"Just don't eat anything in the coldbox and you'll be fine!" The Elder said. She pulled the door closed, and a lock clicked. Mewtwo looked around and saw a mini-cooler, battery powered no less.

"Stolen from the Empire no doubt." He muttered. He laid back to sleep the rest of the day away, as there would most likely be nothing more interesting happening.

Chapter XVIII

_The festival games held by the two communing tribes have always been a traditional set of ceremonies that have been performed since the four tribes settled out of their nomadic tendencies and began trading the bounty stolen from the towers. The game included four tests; speed, balance, magical prowess, and armed combat._

Mewtwo sat up and yawned. He took in his surroundings as he slowly slipped back into reality. It was dim in the store room, except for a beam of light cascading down from a lone window high up on the wall. A soft hum was emitting from the mini-fridge, and the drab metal cans of food sat languidly on the wraparound shelves. The brass doorknob on the rickety wooden door glimmered brightly as the round cast a bright spot about a foot in diameter on the door and around it. The stones in the wall were unevenly sized and crookedly arranged.

There was a loud ruckus outside the house, but the stone walls muffled the noise to a barely audible level. Mewtwo's sensitive ears caught it distinctly and a strong new bout of curiosity gripped him. He stood up and tried to reach his head to the window, but it was too high up. He walked over and was about to open his door when the image of the Blue Tribe rioting in fear stayed his hand. He sighed in frustration and sat down on th sand floor.

Mewtwo sat and sat, trying to put the continuous sounds out of his mind, but the boredom and curiosity were driving him mad. He finally reached the point where he couldn't take it and began to climb the shelving under the window. He stumbled on his awkwardly large feet, and a random can fell to the sandy floor with a muffled thump. He peeked his head over the window's edge, and saw a great square in the center of the much larger Blue Village. Mewtwo thought it looked more like a town.

Moreover, the square was a chaotic mass of Gerudos, and both red and blue clad Gerudos were milling frantically around a long, heavily burdened food table. The racket and the hubbub were heard much clearer through the thin glass than through the stone wall.

Mewtwo sighed and hopped down off the shelf, his curiosity satiated.

"I guess the feasts have started." He mumbled to himself. He sat and sat again, for what seemed to be hours, and the chatter outside continued unchanged. Then, through the mists of boredom, the sound of a door opening creaked through the still, dungeon-like air. The wooden door didn't block much sound, unlike the solid stone walls, and the sound was as clear as the ringing of a bell in the still night air. Mewtwo pressed his head against the door to listen.

"So why exactly were you so late?" an unfamiliar Gerudo voice asked.

"We were attacked" The voice of the Elder replied.

"Really?" the other voice said in a shocked tone. "Was it a sandworm, the Empire, or something else?"

"It was a sandworm around the second day, destroying one of our cargo weapons. On the third day, a lone Gerudo thief tried to make off with handfuls of our trading goods, and last night we were stopped in our tracks by an arrow attack."

The Elder paused, and Mewtwo heard a faint rustling sound.

"It was the same thief, and she used these." The Elder finished.

A loud cry of shock pierced the relatively calm atmosphere. Mewtwo stumbled backwards and caught himself before he could make a noise. He took a deep breath and listened again.

The other voice sounded on the verge of crying when it began talking. "Did the thief have a scar across her forehead?" it asked.

"Tiara shaped." The Elder said with a tone of confusion.

The other Gerudo burst into anguished, drawn out wails of despair. The Elder apologized profusely asked what it was she had said. The other Gerudo calmed herself and continued speaking.

"That was Ciela, my eldest daughter," she said, sputtering and befuddled by grief, " She had been taken by the incantation on a raid and slaved in the mines for two years. Then last week, we took control of the tower and rescued her. We found that she now had this crown-like scar on her forehead, and ranted in delusion like a lunatic! Then, she simply disappeared along with the light arrows."

On the verge of crying, the second Gerudo coughed and spat. The Elder started speaking to calm her, but she managed to gain control.

"I apologize, my grief became out of my control. But as I see it, these past events have been a bad omen. Not only have they drained the competitive spirit from my tribeswomen, but I also felt an odd magical presence earlier today as your wagons pulled in."

Mewtwo sat back away from the door as two thoughts entered his mind hitting him with the force of a fireball. He had forgotten about the Blue Elder's sense! There was really going to be a stink tonight! And also, the fact hit Mewtwo was that it was the Blue Elder whom the familiar Red Elder was talking to. Mewtwo didn't know what to think, now there were two Elders, neither of which he knew their real names!

"Nonsense!" The Red Elder said commandingly, "The only magical items we had with us were the light arrows and 2 spell books!"

"Not an item, someone was using magic, and they weren't a Gerudo either from what I could tell." The Blue Elder said in a ominous tone.

"How odd…." The Red Elder said. Mewtwo detected a hint of anger in her voice, and he knew he was in for it now.

Chapter XIX

_The Gerudo trading festivals have always been set stays of two week and 5 days. Traditionally during this time there is a set schedule that is strictly enforced. The first five days are for feasting, speeches, merriment, and general celebration. The Elders of both Tribes give their own speeches during this time as well. The next five days are when the festival games take place. There are different allocated amounts of time for each event. Speed, balance, and magical prowess each last a day straight, and armed combat for two days. The next two days are for the actual trading, and the final two are for a joint raid on the mine to steal the provisions for the return trip._

The rest of the day passed slowly for Mewtwo. The jabbering and feasting lasted all day and into that night. Great bonfires roared up on the bare sand without any trace of fuel. Mewtwo assumed that this was another manifestation of the phenomenon the Gerudos called magic.

Mewtwo tried to lay down and sleep, but two things impeded his rest. The ruckus outside had reached a feverish pitch, and the noise was pouring through his little window. Flickering light from the bonfires danced along the walls and put on shadow puppet shows between the shelves laden with cans. Mewtwo had spent a good part of this day sleeping too, and now he was making up for it.

Mewtwo slowly dared another look out the window. He saw the bonfires on each of the four corners of the square, which was packed with dancing Gerudos of both colors. The food tables were nearly empty, and a few grazers hovered around, picking desirable morsels from the plates. Then Mewtwo saw a Gerudo approaching the house. He ducked down, hoping he hadn't been seen. After a few seconds, he heard the outer door of the house open. He heard the footsteps approach his closet door, and he the jingling of keys was heard. His brain finally snapping, he dived under the bottom left shelf and stacked the cans in front of him. He grabbed his tail and stuffed it in with him in great pain. He held back a moan of pain, hoping the darkness in the room would help complete his meager hiding spot.

The door clicked open, and Mewtwo caught a whiff of fresh air. As much as he longed to breathe it in, he held his breath not to give himself away, and listened intently. The woman hummed tunelessly and Mewtwo heard the fridge door open. He heard it close again, and the Gerudo strode out in a carefree manner. The door slammed shut and the lock clicked again. Mewtwo let his breath out, and waited until the outer door opened and closed again before climbing out from under the shelf.

After climbing out, Mewtwo climbed up on the shelves again to look out the window again. He saw the Gerudo walking away from the house, carrying the cake from inside the fridge. He also noticed she was clad in red clothes. Mewtwo felt idiotic, knowing that the Gerudo was of his Tribe and would have recognized him. He sat back down, and his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten since this morning. He looked around the shelves until he found a can with a plain label reading "Corn". He wondered how corn could grow in this environment, but was too hungry to seriously think about it. He looked at the can dumbly until he realized that he needed a can opener.

Mewtwo scanned the room, and looked on every shelf. But there was no sign of any can opener, let alone a sharp utensil he could use to pry it open. He knew he couldn't use his powers or else risk being found, and he slammed the can down on the shelf in anger. He thought that there might be something he could use to open it in the main part of the house, but the lock was strong and from the other side. Mewtwo scanned the room again, and nearly shouted in anger when he saw every single bit of food was canned. He sat down, and growled with anger as his stomach howled at him. He climbed up the shelves to look out again, hoping to distract himself. The tables were now completely empty, and the dancing had stopped. The ruckus had died down, but it was still not quiet. The Gerudos were standing and chatting, as if waiting for something. Mewtwo caught sight of the Red Elder approaching the house. He sat back in relief, knowing she would help him.

"Having fun?" the Elder said, opening the little pantry door.

"Ha ha, whee!" Mewtwo joked, and they both laughed a bit. "Really though, can you get me a can opener?" Mewtwo asked.

"A what?" The Elder sputtered, looking confused.

"You know, the little levers you use to open these?" Mewtwo said, gesturing towards the shelves laden with plain grey cans.

The Elder scratched her chin. "I'm not sure what you mean, we just use our scimitar to cut them open." She said.

Mewtwo slapped his face. "Could I get one then?" He asked.

"Without a doubt." The Elder said. She walked back out into the main house, and came back with a small but heavy blade. She handed it to him, and opened the mini-fridge, taking a bottle of water out and opening it. She took a sip and began walking out.

"Well I've got to go, I have a speech to deliver." The Elder said.

"Good luck." Mewtwo said, smiling.

After the Elder had left, Mewtwo grabbed the same can of corn off the shelf with a spark of malice in his eye. He raised the sword and brought it down hard, cleaving the can in half cleanly. Surprisingly, little splattered anywhere, but Mewtwo had to pick it up quickly before it all oozed out onto the sand. The corn was cold, gooey, and bland, but it was the most satisfying food Mewtwo had eaten in a very long time. When he finished the last piece, he wiped the remnants off his paws in the sand and browsed the wide shelves for a fruit product. He figured that if they had corn, they should have fruit as well.

Mewtwo plucked a can of peaches from off the top shelf and set it on the ground, raising the sword. He was about to bring it down when something caught his attention in a steel trap. The slow chatting outside had stopped completely, and all was silent. He dropped the sword and nearly leapt up onto the top shelf to get a view of the outside. Mewtwo noticed that besides the lack of movement and noise, a crude pedestal had been erected on the opposite side on the square, and everyone was facing it. The tiny form of the Red Elder stepped up, and Mewtwo squinted to see from so far away. She said something, but the distance and the glass pane muffled it beyond recognition, even with his sensitive ears.

Mewtwo mumbled crossly and fumbled with the glass, trying to remove it so he could hear the speech. His giant suction cups could not grip the edges of the glass, and he cursed as he heard the Elder speaking something to the crowd. Then a thought struck him, and he slapped his forehead feeling monumentally stupid. He pressed his suction cups directly against the glass and pulled. The pane popped out easily and the Elder's voice wafted in just barely understandable.

"…And once again we stand together as one, but not for revenge or bloodshed. We stand together in celebration of the times of old, and in the hopes that we might create a brighter future."

Mewtwo listened intently, but the Elder's voice seemed to trail off. He concentrated harder on the sound, but his head was thumping all of the sudden, and he felt dizzy. His senses seemed to be dulling, and he felt light-headed. The world blurred right before his eyes, and the strength was leaving his body. Before he could react, he lost his grip on the shelf and fell backward; slamming the back of his head against a hard wooden shelf, and the world disappeared in black ink.

A/N: Well I hope that I wasn't gone so long that everybody forgot about me! I did have to do 7 projects over the span of 2 weeks ya know! Either way, please review!


	8. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 7

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and put it up it in chunks. This is the SEVENTH chunk. I hope you guys had some happy holidays, as mine were quite busy. I barely had time to write with all the trips and family visits I had, but I still found enough time to write this chunk to the standard ten pages, plus a few extra! Enjoy the First part of the Festival Games!

Chapter XX

"_To win a battle, it is important to know yourself and to know your enemy. But to truly know the Empire is twisting to the mind and blackening to the soul."_

_-Eighth Elder of the Yellow Tribe, infamous for going insane and slitting her own throat._

A cold wet blast jolted Mewtwo back into reality. He shook the icy water off his face and sat up. The Elder stood over him, holding the same water bottle as before. A concerned look painted her weathered face.

"What happened? Are you all right?" She asked in an urgent tone.

Mewtwo took a quick assessment of himself. The back of his head and his head-back connection were throbbing forcefully where they had hit the shelf. He winced with every beat of his own pulse. He also felt decidedly feverish and weak. His stomach burned with nausea and he felt overall awful. When he explained all this to the Elder she frowned woefully.

"I will go fetch Fara, don't move." The Elder said. She slammed the door shut and slammed the outer door as well. Mewtwo laid back on the sand floor and resisted the strong urge to use his recover ability to heal himself. Time bent itself seemingly to prolong his torture, and he was about to pass out again when he heard the outer door open. He expected to see Fara and the Elder standing over him, but instead a young Gerudo child in blue clothes stood about 5 feet over him. She looked like a seven year old by human standards, and she looked down on him without a trace of fear on her face.

"I…I'm not a demon." Mewtwo sputtered, his speech skills degrading under pressure. He wondered why the little girl didn't look afraid.

"You aren't a demon, you're the wanderer." The girl said without any detectable emotion.

"What?" Mewtwo asked, completely confused.

"You're the dark wanderer, whom the legends say will fight the Empire and free the world."

"But that's impossible! I'm just one Pokemon! How can I defeat such a large force?" Mewtwo asked incredulously.

"Nothing is as it seems." The girl said. "You should know well enough the power one can have."

Mewtwo's memories flashed back to Ash, the one trainer who single handedly brought truth to his eyes and saved countless lives from a violent death.

"But why me?" Mewtwo asked, his mind befuddled.

"Before you were even created, before life flowed through your veins, your destiny was intertwined with ours. It was no fickle fate that brought you here, and the same force that did will no doubt grasp you in its grip again before this is over."

"How do you know all this?" Mewtwo asked.

"I see as you see." The girl said, and she promptly turned and briskly walked out. The outer door thumped closed gently before Mewtwo could even try to comprehend what had happened. The heat in the room and the pain in his head drowned out any attempts at ruminating.

After another miniature eternity passed, the Elder and Fara appeared. They looked down on him with worry and concern.

"It looks like the old fever." The Elder whispered to Fara. Fara nodded and frowned harder. Mewtwo wasn't listening to what they were saying, and the rest of their dialogue was lost to him. Then a small itching sensation tickled on the inside of his small nostrils. Before he knew it the itch multiplied and he burst forward in a satisfying sneeze. At that same exact instant a can of asparagus on the shelf next to them burst open, splattering all three of them with chunks of the moist vegetable. The Elder swore in Hylian and waved her walking stick around the room, seeking an invisible foe. Mewtwo sniffed his nose, felling another itch, and sneezed again. Five cans on the shelf to his right flew off of the shelf, and the Elder and Fara ducked as they whizzed past and slammed into the opposing wall. The Elder waved her walking stick, and the air seemed to gel around them. A thumping sound emanated from the tip of her stick, which now more resembled a staff.

Mewtwo, still not realizing what was going on, sneezed again. A red glow shined from his head and Fara flew backwards into the main room, as if tossed by an invisible hand.

"Quickly, cast an anti-sneezing spell!" Fara shouted from the other room as she got up from the sandy floor.

The Elder touched the tip of her staff to Mewtwo's face, and he felt the itching wear off. Fara rushed up and conversed with the Elder about a new course of action. While they were talking Mewtwo realized he had caused all this, and it needed to stop now. He had already been discovered by the little girl half an hour ago, so he might as well use his recover power now. He did so, concentrating hard through the feverish mists. Slowly the toxins were cleansed out of his system and the fever came down. He sat up, feeling much better, and the Elder and Fara turned their heads to stare at him.

"Simply amazing." The Elder said quietly.

With these words, someone came bursting in behind them, shouting "What is going on? What was that strange magic?"

An old looking Gerudo in blue walked up behind Fara. She looked directly at Mewtwo and a jolt registered on her face. "DEMON!" She screamed, pulling Fara back away. She reached for a sword hanging on the wall when a hand appeared on her shoulder. It belonged to the same child that had visited Mewtwo half an hour earlier.

"No mother, he is not a demon. He is the one whose destiny shall free us from the grip of the Empire. He is the wanderer."

Chapter XXI

_Sandstorms have become commonplace over the vile desert, and are accepted as everyday occurrences. One of the largest sandstorms in Gerudo history flared up right before the day of great evil, and ended before construction began on the towers. The only explanation the Gerudos have is that the weather is random and unpredictable._

Mewtwo awoke this morning feeling stressed, downtrodden, and tired. Yesterday and last night had been hectic. After being discovered by the Blue Elder, there was quite a bit of explaining to do. The word of his presence had spread like lightning, quickly and with electrifying results. He changed in the eyes of hir Red Tribe Companions, nobody doubted the girl's declaration of Mewtwo being this 'wanderer'. A crowd had formed around the house and there was silent awe. The silence didn't last long, both Red and Blue Gerudos surged towards him with questions. It didn't stop until it was time for the feasting to resume that afternoon. Later that evening, Mewtwo had prepared a speech which had went over with a standing ovation. He was proud of this accomplishment, but the nervousness he suffered for it had been almost intolerable. Then, after stuffing himself silly alongside the Gerudos at the feast, he had gone to bed and slept like a rock.

But for some reason he didn't wake well rested in his new private hut, rather he still felt tired and stressed. He found it difficult to get up and see the Gerudos were still dancing and feasting like they had been all night. He pushed his way to the tables and picked through the assorted platters to assemble his breakfast. He sat down outside the square and savored the strange meats.

After finishing, Mewtwo took to wandering through the village absentmindedly. Since all the Gerudos would do is dance and eat without stop, he had no company. Kalana and the Elders all invited him to join them, but he knew what would happen if he tried to dance on those wobbly legs of his. So he walked and walked, ruminating, until he came upon Ruru sitting in the sand and looking incredibly bored.

"Hey Mewtwo." She said dolefully.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why aren't you dancing with the others?" Mewtwo asked her.

"I sprained my ankle and now I can't dance on it." She said, staring listlessly at the sand.

"Well maybe I can help you." Mewtwo said. "Which ankle did you sprain?"

"The left one." Ruru said.

Mewtwo sat down next to Ruru and put his paw on her left ankle. Warm blue energy radiated from it, but only a few moments. Mewtwo stood back up and gestured for Ruru to do the same. She stood up cautiously, and when pain came, she jumped up and down with an expression of glee.

"Wow, that's so neat! How'd you do that?" She asked in a giddy tone.

"Magic!" Mewtwo said with a sparkle in his eye.

Ruru giggled and danced happily. "You're so cool!" She said grinning.

"You think that was cool, watch this!" Mewtwo said, taking Ruru's hand. He used his power to lift them a few feet off the sand, hovering in midair.

"We're flying!" Ruru said half in fear, half in glee. She kicked her legs in the air, trying to touch the ground.

Mewtwo flew them higher into the air, above the heat of the desert, and until the village was a pattern of squares and the villagers were like ants below. The desert blared orange in the bright morning light and a strong wind pulled at them both. The monotony of the horizon was broken by the Imperial Mining Tower out in the distance. A blink of light shone from the lake of water it was belching from pipes sticking out of its sides. The tips of several other towers were visible as well, almost in pattern across the desert surface. An ominous dark feeling was also reeking over the Eastern Horizon, and Mewtwo squinted. It almost looked like the sky over the East was a shade darker than the rest of the sky. Mewtwo turned his gaze away, shuddering, and spotted a small structure maybe twenty miles east of the Village, and beyond that, the Horizon tinted a shade darker before curving away.

"Umm, can we go down now, I think I'm afraid of heights" Ruru said, drawing Mewtwo out of his ominous ruminations.

"No problem." Mewtwo replied, taking one last look at the odd stone structure before letting their altitude slip away. The village shot back up at them, and they landed on the exact same spot as they had been standing before.

Nobody had seemed to notice Mewtwo and Ruru's little flight, and Mewtwo spent the day pondering what could be in the East as Ruru joined the others in dancing the day away. Mewtwo's mind dwelt on that lone stone structure he had seen, wondering where it came from, if it was occupied by some living being, and how old it was. As the day passed, his mind drifted into other planes, wondering where the Gerudos had gotten all this food. Either they had pulled off quite a raid at the tower, or there was a lot of magic being used. He still didn't quite grasp the concept of magic, wondering where this kind of omnipresent energy came from. He knew that the Towers drained it out of the environment to power themselves, and so the nearest tower must be offline right now. There must be a group of Gerudos over in the tower now keeping it offline. Maybe they even went so far as to destroy it. H knew the Empire had resources and energy to build another one if they had a network so vast across the desert.

The next few days slid into somnalescent repetition, and Mewtwo found them almost comparable to the wagon ride. All the Gerudos ever did was eat and dance. Either they had incredibly one track minds, or this was the only leisure they would get for a long time and were savoring it to the last drop. And suddenly one day, Mewtwo woke up to find the feast tables were completely gone. Long boundaries ran through the square, and Mewtwo knew they were racing lanes for the first segment of the Festival Games. The Games were beginning today.

Mewtwo was quite unsure about his ability to compete, but the Blue Elder insisted that he participate in every game. He wanted to avoid public display, he was already the subject of intense scrutiny without being put on a pedestal. This legend of the wanderer had made him sort of a star to the Gerudos, and none of them showed any fear to him, despite his appearance.

The games started early in the morning, and Mewtwo was up in time to watch the Gerudos dashing down the square and back, testing their speed against one another. Methodically the slower Gerudos were eliminated and the best of the best rose higher in the ranking. Before it was Mewtwo's turn, the Blue Elder approached him.

"Traditionally, magic is not allowed in any event except the test of magical prowess." She said to him as he leaned against a hut. "If you try anything like that, I'll know."

There was a cheer as another race reached its completion, and Mewtwo heard his name shouted out above the din. The Blue Elder winked at him and hurried him off to the starting line. The crowd fell silent as Mewtwo approached the thin painted line, and Mewtwo felt all eyes on him. He cursed in his head, wondering what they will all think of him after this race. Kalana stood in the other lane, and she gave him a thumbs-up sign before settling into starting position. Mewtwo knew he didn't stand a chance, Kalana was one of the Red Tribe's fastest. Still, he needed to be a good sport, so he didn't say anything as he awkwardly got into starting position. Still the crowd remained silent.

"Prepare!" The Red Elder shouted, and a few seconds later, "GO!" rang across the village.

Kalana rocketed forward, gracefully bounding across the stone of the square. Mewtwo wobbled onward, watching as Kalana gained easy distance. He was going a quarter of the speed she had attained, and he was dog tired after only a few seconds of running. As he panted along a rock caught on his foot and he tumbled forward. He caught himself and got back on his feet, trying to regain his pace. After he made halfway across the Square, Kalana passed him on the return. He didn't look back to see her reach the finish, but rather kept at it with dogged determination until he reached the end of the square. On the return he doubled his pace, going as hard as he could until he reached the finish, dripping with sweat.

The Gerudos clapped him on the back and complimented him on his being a good sport, but the cheering went to Kalana and Mewtwo felt dejected as he found a place among the spectators to watch the rest of the races. The Red Elder came over and stood next to him after a few minutes.

"You did pretty well for someone so disadvantaged in such a contest." She said reaffirmingly.

Mewtwo felt genuinely better and smiled warmly. "There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I'd lose with these legs of mine." He said.

"Not to mention you were up against the fastest in our Tribe." The Elder said. "You didn't give up, and that's what counts. Good job." She said.

"Thanks." Mewtwo said meaningfully.

"Besides, imagine how well you'll do in the Test of Magical Prowess?" The Elder said in a mischevious tone.

Mewtwo soaked that sentence in, and smiled deviously. He knew the day after tomorrow was going to be most interesting.

Chapter XXII

_The ancient land of Hyrule, and the vast, immeasurable desert are everything the Gerudos have ever known. Even the Gerudos themselves have lost track of the desert's bounds, and forays into new lands have been unheard of and never suggested. The Gerudos have become so complacent in their lives that they have not even thought to travel past the reach of the mining towers of the Empire. Lack of foods and supplies is a major factor in this, but it is partly because many Gerudos know can only call their small villages home, even in this age of the decline._

The next day, the second test went underway as early as the first had. Mewtwo awoke to find Gerudos testing the balance by standing on poles of decreasing diameter. Complete silence was traditional to this event the Blue Elder told Mewtwo later, and that he should not talk unless at a significant distance from the balancers. So Mewtwo ate his provided breakfast in silence, watching as Gerudos perched and fell off the poles one by one. In the test, a competing Gerudo had to stand successfully without outside support on each successive pole for thirty seconds. More experienced Gerudos balanced successfully on the skinniest pole, so that all but fifteen had been eliminated. This fifteen had balanced perfect on every pole for a minute, twice the required time.

Mewtwo's turn was the last of this round, and he stumbled up onto the first pole. Already he noticed that one of his feet was too big to stand on even the thickest pole, and he only held his balance for four seconds. Once again, the Gerudos congratulated him on his good sportsmanship, but the real cheers went to Kalana, who stood on the skinniest pole for a minute and a half. It was only midday by the time the first round was over, and Kalana and the other fourteen waited while the second half of the test was set up.

The next test was twice as difficult as the last. A new series of poles was set up, all of equal height and closely knit in a path. They were all the skinniest width as well. The fifteen contestants had to jump from pole to pole without falling, until they reached the end and slid down. The poles were about 10 feet tall, and a fall would be humiliating and painful on top of that. The first to tackle the pole course was the Blue Elder.

The Blue Elder leapt from pole to pole gracefully, moving like a swan through the afternoon sun. She reached the end of the pole course in forty seconds and put up quite a dazzling show. There was quite a lot of coordination and muscle power hidden beneath her wrinkled façade. The Red Elder went next, and put on just as impressive a show as the Blue Elder had. She finished the course in just under forty seconds, and the Red clad Gerudos cheered merrily as the Red Elder slid down the pole.

Kalana was next up, and she seemed a bit uneasy about the height. She struggled up the first pole and gained a foothold. The same grace showed in her as in the first round, but she wobbled in her jump and almost fell halfway through. She finished in one minute straight. A few other Gerudos were eliminated, and Fara and the Blue Medicine Woman were needed to heal some broken bones from the falls. When the final round was over, it was bordering on twilight. The Gerudos scurried to complete preparations on the final round.

With only 9 competitors left, the final round was rigorous. Poles were placed between huts, and the Gerudos had to jump from a pole to a hut's roof and then to another pole. You had to choose your route wisely, as huts with straw roves tended to collapse under one's weight. If you caused a hut to collapse you were disqualified. The fastest routes to the end of the course were those that included straw roved huts, so one had to gauge one's weight versus their speed in order to win.

Kalana stepped up first. This course was not as high up as the second one, so she was more confident. She deftly hopped from hut to pole and completed the course without errors in a minute and ten seconds. A few other Gerudos ran the course, and four of them underestimated their weight and collapsed huts. When it was the Blue Elder's turn, she lightly alight on all the grass huts without collapsing a single one, finishing the course in fifty seconds. The Blue Gerudos cheered at this lowest time, and the Red Elder climbed up. She followed a path through the village that had already been collapsed by previous competitors, but leapt across the collapsed hut to the next pole. This was a nine foot jump, and she finished the course in forty-five seconds flat. The Red Gerudos cried 'huzzah' and several chants in Hylian, this was the second event they had won. Mewtwo knew in his mind they would also win the third one, magic prowess, with him on their team. He smiled discreetly as the Red Elder shared merriment with the other Gerudos as the sun set and darkness fell over the village.

Chapter XXIII

"_Only when the times grow dark,_

_And the world flies under imperial mark,_

_Will a hero arise to free the land,_

_For old and new he shall make a stand,_

_For all the wrongs he makes a right,_

_A bright new day for each dark night,_

_A mote of light for each grain of sand_

_Until the world holds no brand,_

_To bear witness to this dark hour,_

_In which we live, times of sour,_

_Forever he wanders, lamenting sin,_

_Fighting his own darkness within_

_He finds our world great darkness in,_

_Mirroring his mind and soul within,_

_He lashes out in rage and spite,_

_Clearing the darkness, purging the night,_

_His anger cleanses the awful blight,_

_And opens the path for a whole new light,_

_His tale holds true now for all to see,_

_How anger is not always negativity,_

_For his anger shall free us all,_

_Harnessed, anger lead to evil's fall."_

_-Ancient Poem, known as the legend of the Dark Wanderer_

Mewtwo awoke extra early this morning, fully excited about the third test, the test of Magical Prowess. He knew this was one test he could excel in, if not dominate. The sun was still peeking over the horizon as he crawled out of his hut, and he saw the Gerudos were still preparing for the start of the event, no magic had started flying yet. He watched as a ring was drawn over the stone of the square, and he inspected the area thoroughly. It was approximately 10 feet in diameter, what he guessed to be bounds for the magic fight. He guessed there must be a few extra rules, so he looked for the Blue Elder to tell him of any. It didn't take long to find her, she was patrolling the perimeter of the square, getting sleepyheads out of bed for the contest.

"What can I do for you?" She asked as he walked up to her.

"I want to know, what are the rules for the test of Magical Prowess?" Mewtwo asked eagerly.

"The way you win is simple. You can either force your opponent out of the ring with a barrage of spells, knock them unconscious, or force them to surrender. You are not allowed to kill your opponent. You may knock her out or force her to surrender, but killing will not only get you disqualified but banished from our village. We need all the arms we can keep. Also, no actual physical contact between you or your opponent is allowed. You need to save that for tomorrow's test. You are not allowed to blind your opponent or allow any of your spells to harm anyone outside of the ring. And there are a few spells that are against the rules. No invisibility, no teleportation, and no curses of a permanent nature. You will obey these rules today?"

"Of course. This is a test I know I can win, so why would I want to cheat?" Mewtwo asked.

"You have great power and potential my friend," The Blue Elder said, pausing, "But do not let it get to your head. Arrogance has been the downfall of many of our sisters, including my daughter…" The Blue Elder trailed off at the last part of the sentence, and then corrected herself. "Shall we start?" She asked briskly.

"Of course!" Mewtwo said, his spirit undampened. He knew he was being slightly foolish by acting so superior, but the rush of excitement over victory within his grasp was making him ecstatic. He knew in his mind that this was his chance to truly prove himself to all of them, even though he was already accepted.

Soon the sun was above the horizon and preparations were complete. The Gerudos crowded around the white drawn ring, and a new air of excitement hovered in the air. Several Red Gerudos told the tale of their venture to the mine before their trip, and how Mewtwo had demonstrated his powers so amply there. The first two Gerudos, of very young age and still training, stepped into the ring. The both held staffs, and when the Blue Elder shouted "Begin!", they waved their staffs and muttered incantations. Little bolts of electricity flew from the tip of the staff held by the Gerudo on the left, and a small fireball answered from the girl on the right. Neither had enough punch to do serious harm, yet they both found their marks and the girls fell back in pain. Mewtwo wondered why they hadn't dodged. When one got up, she pointed her staff at the other and muttered another spell. A wave of energy blasted out, and the other girl still on the ground rolled out of the bounds of the ring. The Blue Elder shouted a word in Hylian and both girls bowed to each other and left the ring. The first elimination had gone pretty quickly.

After two more rather unimpressive rounds, Mewtwo was called up to face a familiar face, Madiri, whom he had sat near on the wagon.

"Time to show your mettle!" She said, raising her staff and pointing it at him.

They stood facing off until the Red Elder shouted, "Begin!"

Mewtwo let Madiri have the first move, curious at what she would throw at him. She shouted in Hylian, and Mewtwo knew this was a powerful incantation of sorts. The tip of her staff glowed white and Mewtwo raised his psychic shield. It glimmered blue in the morning sun and the Gerudos stared in awe. Madiri's staff emitted a rather large electric bolt, which struck Mewtwo's shield hard. He absorbed it easily and threw a sphere of raw unfocused psychic energy at her. She dodged to the side and flung her hand at him. A large fireball sped out of her open palm and collided with Mewtwo's shield. He deflected it effortlessly and stood back, charging a shadow ball in both hands. Not wanting to overdo it and kill Madiri, he only charged it to quarter-power before flinging it at Madiri. It arced through the air, cutting a jagged and unpredictable path, and Madiri chanted a protection spell. A small magic shield formed around her and took the blow. The impact knocked her off her feet and out of the ring. The Gerudos stood in awe, and the Red Elder clapped loudly and appreciatively.

Another Gerudo whom Mewtwo did not know the name of stepped into the ring with him. She attacked him repeatedly with powerful force spells, but Mewtwo deflected them with ease. When he grew bored with this he cast a psywave at her and knocked her clean out of the ring with one strike. Once again the Gerudos stood speechless. Another Gerudo unknown to Mewtwo stepped into the ring with him, staring at him with a reproachful look. He almost thought she was looking at him as a man looks at an ant before he crushes it. Before the match started, a lone voice called out over the heads of the crowd….

"Go get him W'diri!" the woman shouted from the back of the crowd. Mewtwo chanced a guess that it was Quidiri who had shouted this, knowing that these two of the three sisters thought little of him.

"Begin!" The Red Elder cried.

Before Mewtwo could react properly a fireball impacted his right arm. It threw him off balance and he fell to his side. He instinctively raised his shield and several other fireballs impacted it forcefully. He stood up and glared at W'diri, disliking her style of attack. The skin on his arm was blackened and pain screamed up his arm. He panted and grumbled, not noticing his anger was rising. He used his recover ability and new skin formed on his arm, the burned crust flaked off.

"Let me play your game for a minute." He said maliciously, and picked her up with his psychic power. He held her in the air to let her panic and watched the fear play over her face. A part of him laughed before he dropped her outside of the ring. The Gerudos again were aghast and silent. Mewtwo had now publicly displayed his healing abilities, and many were still staring at the crisp husk laying on the ground that had once constituted all the skin on his arm. The Red Elder frowned and called the next competitor and Mewtwo smirked. He was starting to feel very smug.

This smugness vanished when he saw Kalana step into the ring. She smiled a devious and yet friendly smile at him, and he knew she wouldn't pull out any stops despite their friendship. She wanted to win, and it showed in her aura of sheer confidence.

"Begin!" The Red Elder shouted.

"_Lanciamos!_" Kalana shouted, thrusting her staff forward, and a spear of energy sped toward Mewtwo at high speed. Mewtwo raised his shield and the point of the spear struck powerfully. Its point bent his shield inwards, and Mewtwo concentrated hard on pumping more energy into it. After a few seconds of this struggle, the shield maintained its original shape and the energy lance shattered. Mewtwo looked to Kalana for shock, but he saw her smiling that same mischievous smile. She shouted a long sentence in Hylian that Mewtwo couldn't decipher and a bolt of red energy flew from her staff and met his shield. Instead of a forceful impact however, Mewtwo felt a sudden strangeness, and his shield fell away. He saw this and panicked, trying to raise it again desperately.

"You'll find impediment curses are quite nasty." Kalana said. "Especially that one, which will keep your magical defenses down long enough to end this."

"Not if I end it first!" Mewtwo said, and he charged a shadow ball to full power in a split second. He threw it straight this time, avoiding the standard jagged power-up arc. It flew straight at Kalana, who raised her own magic shield. It rammed the shield with full force and blasted her twelve feet out of the ring where she collided with the crowd. Fara and Dera, the Blue Medicine Woman, rushed forward to assess any injuries. Mewtwo stubbornly tried to raise his shield again, but it refused. Kalana stood up and gestured her hand toward Mewtwo. His shield burst back to life again.

"Good job, I didn't expect that one." Kalana said, brushing the dust off of herself.

"I didn't exactly expect that shield breaker either." Mewtwo said, smiling with a new respect for Kalana. They shook hands and Kalana threw him another glancing smile. He chuckled to himself and wondered how the crowd was feeling now.

Many hours passed, and Mewtwo's opponents became more and more skilled as the matches passed by. Yet each new opponent he faced was no match. No matter how many clever tricks they tried, he found some way to go around them. The crowd of Gerudos was no longer full of awe, but enthusiastic of Mewtwo's performance. By the time it had reached afternoon however, he was facing the older and more experienced Gerudos. His matches with them took longer and expended more energy, but he was still pulling in victories by the time he was facing his last two opponents, the Red and Blue Elders.

"Behold, the final test of Magical Prowess. He who has proven himself more than worthy and able shall face one last challenge of mighty valor and difficulty. Having defeated all others in both tribes, Mewtwo shall face The Red Elder and I in a two on one duel. The same rules apply, let the Eldest heirs of Both tribe lines come forth!" The Blue Elder cried.

Kalana and a familiar little girl stepped up to the ring. Mewtwo realized that this was the same girl whom had recognized him as the 'Dark Wanderer'. He also thought that she was a bit young to be the Eldest heir of the line. He had also learned her name was Indiru. Kalana and Indiru presented their mothers with their staffs and stood back. "Ready, BEGIN!" Kalana and Indiru shouted at the same time.

Mewtwo knew that the Elders would be no pushover, and he knew they would probably be very powerful, but he did not half expect the severity of the punishment they dished out. Within a second they bombarded him mercilessly with all manner of elemental energy, and Mewtwo only raised his shield barely in time. The raw power bent it inward dangerously, and he bellowed loudly and poured most of his energy and concentration into maintaining it. As the barrage continued, Mewtwo felt his energy was being used up rapidly, and he knew he needed to act fast. He flew himself high above the ring and the spells whizzed past each other and flew at the Elders on their opposite sides. The Elders blocked with their own magic shields and were only knocked back a few inches.

More fiery orbs, bolts of energy, and shockwaves followed Mewtwo up into the air, and he swerved and dodged them with ease. He charged a shadow ball to full, and then pumped even more energy into it. He wasn't satisfied until it was almost five feet in diameter. He knew the Elders could handle a lot more than this. He tossed it down in the standard jagged power-up arc, mostly to make its impact position more unpredictable. It hit the stone between the two Elders and the explosion engulfed the ring. When the sand and dust cleared, the Elder's protective auras shone undamaged. Mewtwo expected it, and another volley of spells lashed up after him.

Mewtwo charged a powerful psywave and released the powerful energy wave down towards the Elders. Their shields reflected the wave back upwards and Mewtwo raised his shield. The Elders must have amplified the wave, because it came back three times as forcefully as he had sent it. His shield bent and gave way, and the blast knocked the wind out of him and shook his insides sickeningly. His skin crackled and burned from the raw energy and he began to fall towards the stone of the square. His instincts didn't let him stay in shock for long, he caught himself and flew back upwards, clutching his stomach. He used his recover ability to ease the energy burns on his skin and turned back to the Elders to see two more waves speeding toward him. They obviously knew his power could do a lot more than this, and wanted to test it.

This time Mewtwo had time to dodge, and he flew hard left as the sonic disturbances whizzed past. More destructive energies followed and Mewtwo weaved gracefully between them, charging one of the attacks he still remembered from his Pokemon world, the Hyper Beam. Only dragons had used it back then, but he had been able to copy its resonant energy patterns and energy types. He formed the correct synchronization of fluctuations within the charge, necessary stabilize the extended beam. Once he had correctly synchronized all the energy he needed he threw his hands forward and the twisting pulsating column of energy screamed down at the damaged stone of the ring. The beam itself was only a few inches in diameter, but when it struck the ground between the Elders, fire erupted violently and the stone was thrown up from the ground in a violent explosion. The Elders, still holding their shields, were thrown backward and the ring itself was blown upwards in a maelstrom of fire. They skidded to a stop unharmed, and the stones from the explosion fell back to the ground with dull thuds. The crowd had been knocked backwards off of their feet by the shock of the explosion.

When he landed next to the remnants of the ring, he found the Gerudos were thankfully unharmed from the explosion. The Elders approached him with upset looks on their faces as the crowd dispersed slowly as murmurs were exchanged.

"So, did I win?" Mewtwo asked, feeling suddenly apprehensive under the glares of the Elders.

"Let's talk about it." The Red Elder said soberly with a frown, and the Blue Elder grabbed Mewtwo's arm and pulled him along towards a hut. Once again he had a sinking feeling and he knew there was a hell of a lecture on its way. It would not be a pleasant afternoon.

A/N: I know this took way too long, but the holidays were the epitome of hectic for me! At least four interstate trips and four family visits mean very little time. I hope you will still take time to review though!


	9. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 8

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and put it up it in chunks. This is the EIGHTH chunk. This chunk was not as good as I had hoped, there are some gaps here and there that I plan on filling, some editing here and there, the basic crop and grow procedures. This is going to be a major turning point, and the next few chunks after this one are going to be super awesome! The only thing is, they will take extra long. I plan on pouring on some excellent stuff here, so be patient with me.

Chapter XXIV

"_Destiny comes from the sky. It always has. Ancient tales of the Day of Great Evil tell of the Empire's arrival in this world. They say of great monstrosities hovering over the land in the east, the hordes of the Empire flowing out of their black bellies, ever belching bursts of flame to the Ruin of the East. But it is only a legend. Gerudos have never been too deep into the East. The Legend of the Wanderer is also remembered to say that the Wanderer falls through a hole in the sky, but such passages of that olden poem have been lost to time."_

_-Seventh Elder of the Blue Tribe_

"One week…" An echoing dark voice whispered, "But one week and the world shall fall…"

Two burning red eyes flared in the darkness, piercing Mewtwo's mind and soul effortlessly. Two red hot pikes stabbed his mind. He cried out in pain and cried for the torture to stop.

"Come to the East in one week…I have been lenient, one week, or the world shall fall."

Horrific images of terror, destruction, death and gore flashed through Mewtwo's mind, he saw all his friends being ripped to shreds and burned. He saw the silhouette of the desert erupt into a maelstrom, gouts of fire belching out of the ground as the sand slipped away into cracks into the Earth, what remained was burned to glass and the Towers stood dark and tall, looking down at the grim scenes in malevolent laughter.

"You've evaded me long enough, now come to me…" The voice whispered, and then, in a voice of a million decibels, shouted "COME!"

Mewtwo bolted awake in his bed, sweating cold buckets. He panted as the ghastly images faded from his mind and reality phased back in. The voice still rang in his ears, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He had bitten his cheeks in terror. Darkness and silence wafted in through his hut's entrance, and the moon glimpsed over the horizon. As Mewtwo pushed the rest of the dream out of his mind, he guessed it must be in the neighborhood of four in the morning. The Gerudos were sleeping for once, and the biblical bonfires were nowhere to be seen. Guards with torches moved like fireflies in the soupy darkness, and the stars hung in a beautiful mesh in the sky.

Mewtwo sat up and walked out of his hut for a breath of fresh air. This time he wouldn't let himself fall asleep until he got back into bed. Still the two red eyes left a stinging sensation in his mind, and the thought of sleep seemed the most unpleasant thing in the world to him. He continued to walk towards the square. There he found that a few Gerudos were hard at work fixing the stone of the square since he had used the Hyper Beam. The stones had been magically reassembled and now four lonely Gerudos were putting them back in place. Mewtwo recognized Madiri and W'diri hard at work along two other Gerudos he could not recognize. He decided to avoid them and walk around the square.

Thoughts of his lecture with the two Elders drifted back to Mewtwo's mind, and he mentally winced. He could sense that there were no hard feelings between him and the Elders, mainly since they knew that they had been pressing him hard enough to bring on this reaction. But he had still gotten a firm proverbial slap on the bottom and sent to his room. He hoped that today was going to be better, and worried how difficult the Test of Armed Combat would be. His arms were skinny and malformed, not fit for holding a staff or scimitar. He considered just throwing his first match on purpose in order to avoid embarrassing himself any further. At this point, he was sure none of the Gerudos liked him much any more. A black pit of depression grew in his stomach as he walked back around the square towards his hut. He wished he could just sleep through the next couple of days and let the Elders cool off.

As Mewtwo climbed back into his bed again the image of the two piercing eyes haunted his mind. He felt a foreboding sense of dread and sorrow, almost as if that he knew that the world was going to end tomorrow. But he knew better than that, the voice had told him it would be one week. He fell asleep feeling emotionally shattered and damaged.

As the sun slowly split itself from the horizon, Gerudos with scimitars clashed and battled in the Blue Village Square. Amazing displays of proficiency with the blade and staff played out for all to see except one. Mewtwo remained in bed, fighting off the sun as he tried to shove the world from his mind. He was still recoiling from the horrors he had seen the night before, and a twisted wad of dark scum churned in his stomach. When he could no longer grasp the last fleeting tendril of sleep, he dragged himself out of his bed and looked out his door at the Square, which was alive with cheers and the sounds of battle. He felt sour at the thought of watching the battles, or even being around anyone. For the first time since he had left the Pokemon World, Mewtwo felt the need to be alone.

Mewtwo found his solitude on the roof of the Red Elder's stone house. He sat and looked to the East, staring intently at nothing while dark thoughts raced around his mind. He knew that whatever this thing was, "The Eyes of the Empire", it was real. It wanted him to come to the East, and soon. He wondered what lied in the East, and what that strange stone structure was. And no matter how hard he tried, Mewtwo could not purge that voice from his mind. It echoed and rung in his mind, and he felt a pull on him. Not a physical pull, but a slight mental tug to find out what truly lied in the East. He floated down off of the roof and wandered out of the Village's limit. The sand was hot beneath his feet and the sounds of cheers from the contest were still going on strong. He was almost happy that he had been disqualified for sleeping in that morning, he would have made a complete fool out of himself in armed combat without using his powers.

As he casually circled the village, Mewtwo's thoughts turned back to the Western horizon. He felt a sense of longing, a want cried out to return to the Red Village and to get away from his shame. He also felt a tinge of loss, he almost felt like he would never see the old Village again. As he tried to put these thoughts out of his mind, Mewtwo's gaze drifted North. The tip of the mining tower was visible barely above the horizon, and a strange haze was rising from the sand but a few miles away. He squinted and recognized it as a cloud of sand and dust being kicked up by something moving across the desert. His heart jumped as two possibilities raced to mind; either these were Gerudos returning from the tower, or things had gone from bad to worse and these were Imperial soldiers. Either way, he felt he needed to alert the other Gerudos. He jumped into the air and flew at breakneck speed back to the village.

When he arrived, Mewtwo quickly found a Warning horn sitting in a opening on a guard tower. All the towers were empty for the events, so nobody would notice the dust in the distance. Mewtwo raised the horn to his mouth and gave a mighty blow. The blast resonated throughout the village and echoed across the desert beyond. The cheering and fighting stopped almost immediately, and Gerudos armed with scimitars raced up to Mewtwo with serious looks on their faces.

"What is it?" One of them asked, "Why did you blow the horn?"

"Someone approaches from the North!" Mewtwo said frantically.

Several Gerudos scoffed and growled disapprovingly, and the crowd around Mewtwo began to tremble as if about to explode in anger when the Blue Elder spoke up.

"I have given specific orders to all my women not to leave the tower, even if it means death." She said dramatically. There was a short pause garnished with electrified silence.

"The Empire cometh to bring their wrath upon us." The Blue Elder whispered in a shocked tone. Whispers and shudders filled the congregation before the Blue Elder erupted; "To arms! Prepare for battle!"

Battle cries filled the village as the Gerudos dispersed and gathered all their armor and weapons together and distributed them. As the minutes passed, the sand in the distance seemed to make leaps and bounds closer to the village. After finishing the task of equipping every Gerudo capable of fighting, they all moved to the outer perimeter of the village. A few machineguns had been captured from the Empire a few weeks ago, and these were set up facing the incoming enemy. Mewtwo could now see the small, egg shaped Imperial vehicles racing across the sand. Bows were knocked, scimitars readied, and psychic powers brought to full charge.

Mewtwo flew up to stand on top of a hut and get a good view of the attackers as they slowly but surely moved towards the village. He saw four egg shaped transport vehicles, which he recognized as the same type of vehicles that the Red Elder had hitched to their wagons. There were also two of what appeared to be tanks, bulbous monstrosities floating a foot off the sand as the approached. There was a large gun turret on top of both of them. When they were only 100 feet away, they turned and aimed at the entrenched Gerudos. Mewtwo would have nothing of it. He flew out into their line of fire just as blasts of dark energy exited the muzzles of their turrets. Mewtwo powered up his shield and the dark energy hit him hard, much harder than he had expected. His shield held, but he was flung through the air in dizzying spirals.

Then, out of the once calm air, there was a shout from the Gerudos and the air was filled with the twang of bows. Arrows peppered the sky and shattered harmlessly against the hulls of the vehicles. Mewtwo righted himself and frowned, the Gerudos weren't doing any damage at all. The turret on one tank whirred and sighted a small hut that was filled with Gerudo troops. Mewtwo acted without thinking, he teleported himself in between the Gerudos and the tank, and absorbed the blast of darkness the tank had spat. He was better prepared this time however, and he didn't lose his balance. He held strong and charged a shadow ball to full power in his hands. The tank didn't have time to let its weapon warm up before Mewtwo lobbed his own attack. The shadow ball struck its target directly on the top of the turret, burrowing through the armor of the tank's top. When it reached the tank's power core, the entire vehicle was engulfed in a purple explosion. The other tank turned and fired. Mewtwo expected another dark energy attack, but instead he found a missile streaking off the tank's side to meet him. It detonated on his shield and blew him backwards into a hut, which promptly collapsed. A wooden beam fell from the hut's ceiling and knocked Mewtwo out cold.

And outside the remains of the hut, the Gerudos now had no-one to take their blows for them. Never once in their history had the Empire used such force against them, and they were unprepared. The transports opened up and mindless slaves poured out carrying guns of varying sizes. The machine guns that the Gerudos had captured burst to life, mowing down ranks of mindless soldiers. Then the tank sighted one of the guns and fired. The Gerudo arming this particular gun was able to jump out on time, and the gun itself turned instantly to molten slag. Then the slave troops broke through the Gerudos' defensive line and gunfire barked throughout the village.

Through this violence, the Red Elder walked right up to the remnants of the outer line, carrying a single bow and a quiver with a single arrow. The passing slave troopers seemed to pay her no heed as they chased after other Gerudos retreating inward. The Red Elder climbed to the top of one of the remaining huts and pulled the one arrow out of her quiver. She knocked it into the bow and aimed at the remaining tank.

The tank spotted her and brought its gun to bear. The dark energy drive hummed to life as its driver pushed it to overcharge. The Elder drew the bow tight, and the arrow began to glow.

"For the Honorable Mothers. For my daughters." She whispered, and let the arrow fly.

The tank let loose a deluge of dark energy from its turret and the two projectiles met in midair. Instead of burning up and disappearing, the light arrow cut right through the dark energy and flew directly into the tank's gun barrel. There was a flash of bright white light, and electricity sparked around the tank before it detonated in a ball of white flame.

"The light arrows, show evil no mercy." The Red Elder said, recanting the line from Hylian history. The troops in the village suddenly fell limp and unconscious, and the remaining transport vehicles turned and fled. The tanks had been sustaining a radio incantation to control the drop troops. The battle was over with one arrow.

Chapter XXV

"_A greener land where life prevailed,_

_Cool breeze, cold stream and prosperity unveiled,_

_A place where hope had never failed,_

_Darkness suddenly exhaled._

_Malevolence poured down from the sky,_

_Violence from worlds gone awry,_

_A valiant few made a battle cry,_

_But the land's life was soon sucked dry._

_Shadow settled upon the land,_

_As if grasped by one dark hand,_

_Expanding oceans of bright orange sand,_

_Ignorance is a powerful command._

_A Hero rose and fell in turn,_

_The very sky did boil and burn,_

_For freedom then no-one did yearn,_

_Against rebellion fear doth spurn._

_Yet the towers may yet fall,_

_A wanderer answers destiny's call,_

_Walking through darkness' hall,_

_Toppling the oppressive wall._

_Despite what seems set destiny,_

_There will always be opportunity,_

_Where one will still accept journey,_

_A caged bird may still fly free."_

_-Poem discovered in Hylian Ruins, author and date of creation unknown._

Mewtwo awoke with his head throbbing again. He looked up to see the ceiling of his hut and cringed at a pulse of pain in his neck. He followed his instinctive reaction of using his recover ability on himself. When the pain was gone, he sat up to see Fara sitting in a chair next to his bed.

"Impressive. A blow like the one you got would have kept one our warriors down for a few days." Fara said.

Mewtwo shook his head, clearing his thoughts. There was a slight ringing in his ears that wouldn't go away. "How long was I out?" He asked.

"Four hours, give or take. I was about to give you a red potion, but I was afraid it would choke you if I tried to pour it in your mouth." Fara said. "Your abilities really are amazing. You used that healing ability that you have on yourself, didn't you?"

"It was a reflex." Mewtwo said, sighing. He wondered what had become of the others in the attack. He still had a hard time remembering what exactly had happened.

"That's an amazing power. Something like that would really make my job easier." Fara said.

"What do you mean? Those Red potions you have work just as well, if not a bit better." Mewtwo said.

"It's not like we have an unlimited supply of those you know." Fara said, "The Empire doesn't know how to make them, so we have what little we can make with the limited ingredients. Not to mention you need to use magic to make them, and we don't have a lot of time when the towers are taken offline."

"I see. So you ration them?" Mewtwo asked.

"More or less. Priority is given to those with more serious injuries. You didn't have any mortal injuries, so I hesitated to give this to you at first. Then I decided that we would probably need your power within the next few days and that I needed to revive you. I was about to administer it when you suddenly awoke." Fara said.

Mewtwo sighed and stood up. He could see the sun was setting outside, and a small voice whispered in his head, "Six days."

"Uhh, is there anything I can do for you?" Fara asked, walking up to his side.

"Well, do you know where I can find Indiru?" Mewtwo asked.

"You mean the Blue Elder's daughter? She usually is around her mother's little stone house. It's next to the other house where the Red Elder is staying. Why do you ask?" Fara said, feeling slightly worried about Mewtwo.

"I want to ask her a few questions. She told me that she has the gift of foresight." Mewtwo said, now walking away.

"Well, if you need anything!" Fara shouted.

"Got it." Mewtwo said, strolling towards the two Elder's houses.

A loud, reverberating knock sounded on the Blue Elder's door. She immediately popped out of her nap and walked to the door and opened it. When she saw Mewtwo standing there, she struggled to hold back a frown.

"What is it?" She growled.

"Is Indiru in here?" Mewtwo asked.

"No, why do you want to know?" the Blue Elder said.

"I wanted to ask her about the future. She says she can see it." Mewtwo replied.

"Can't you? After all those other powers you've been touting around here these past few days, I assume you can at least see the future too?" The Blue Elder said. She was still angry at him for injuring the twelve tribeswomen with his fancy beam attack. The Red Potion store was dangerously low, especially after that imperial raid.

"Well, I……I don't think I can do that." Mewtwo stuttered.

"Listen to me. I don't think you're a bad person, but you're arrogant. Too arrogant. If you want to get on my good side, stop acting so proud and pulling foolhardy stunts. And maybe you should try looking into the future yourself, I doubt it's impossible with you abilities. You're the one who proved it to us with your little demonstration." The Blue Elder said, and then shut the door in Mewtwo's face.

Mewtwo stormed away from the blue Elder's house. He was now more angry at himself for not thinking of that. He walked back across the village, which was humming with activity. Despite the Imperial attack, the two days of trading had been going by smoothly. Gerudos of both colors bartered their goods privately and in public display. The Red Elder had even managed to close a deal wherein she traded three fine glass jars for a beautiful silk scarf. Today being the last day for trading, the activity was becoming feverish. More and more Gerudos hastened to unload all the goods they had stolen from the Empire and enjoy the luxuries that they traded for.

Mewtwo bumped into Kalana turning around the corner of a hut on the way back to his. He smiled; this was the first time he had a chance to talk to her in days. She was carrying a large roll of animal skin that she had recently bought. It would make a fine roof for a hut. Mewtwo apologized and helped her carry the cumbersome roll back to one of the wagons.

"It's a good thing we found the replacement parts we needed for these." Kalana said to him as they hefted the roll into the back of a wagon.

"Ingenuity and a little luck prevailed." Mewtwo said. "I myself have not known much luck over the course of my life."

He and Kalana began walking back across the square. "Nonsense!" Kalana replied, "You found us, didn't you?" She said cheerfully.

"Yes, but I'm still worried that people aren't adjusted to me." Mewtwo said in a hazy gloom. He was mildly shocked that Kalana wasn't upset about his stunt a few nights ago.

"Listen to me." Kalana said, stopping in mid stride, "All you need to do is be yourself. Don't try to show off or impress us. Just show us what you're like on the inside, without all those fancy abilities."

Mewtwo sighed heavily. "Sound advice…but sometimes I doubt that I'm wholly decent on the inside too." He said, remembering back to the hollow evil feeling he had felt now almost half a year ago.

"What do you mean?" Kalana asked, now staring at him with concern.

"I've talked to you about this many a time before, don't you remember? The deaths, Giovanni, the time we were almost devoured by the sandworm?" Mewtwo said, feeling a shudder come over him.

"Of course I remember! I just…feel like I can trust you. That's what friends do! They trust each other!" Kalana said as if force feeding a baby.

Mewtwo was silent for a moment, a tinge of emotion in his eyes. "I've never had a true friend until now." He said. "Only one, and she was taken from me shortly after I met her." Mewtwo said, on the verge of crying at the memory of Ai. Gerudos were now turning and staring at them.

"Come on," Kalana said, "Less sympathetic eyes wash over us." She said, and they walked back to the edge of the village to be alone.

There, Mewtwo related all of his recent dreams to her. He told her of the Eyes of the Empire, the threats and warnings, and of Ai's message.

"No matter what happens, embrace yourself, or all shall be lost." Kalana repeated to herself, after Mewtwo had recanted what Ai had said. "Where have I heard that before?"

"All I know right now is that these Eyes of the Empire are not making empty threats. If I am to reach wherever they dwell in the East in five days, I need to leave, now." Mewtwo finished, placing morbid emphasis on the end of the sentence. "You don't think I am insane, do you?"

"My goddess no! If anything your clairvoyant mind makes you all the more believable. But if what you say is true, you do have to leave……tonight." Kalana said evocatively.

"Tonight?" Mewtwo gasped. "But how am I to know where to go? And what of food and water?"

"We'll go together. We can carry enough supplies to sustain us for a week. We could carry even more, using your powers. But as soon as we travel a few miles out, we'll be within the range of another tower, and that won't happen. Since we have less than a week of time to work with anyway, I say it's a sane insanity." Kalana said.

"And what will we tell to the Elders? Ruru? Won't they be worried and upset about you disappearing?" Mewtwo asked in a now desperate tone. There was a part of him that screamed to stay away from the East no matter what cost, and it was speaking in him.

"They know of your abilities. I will write a concise note explaining how you foresaw the doom in your dream and we will be off." Kalana said, now pacing around the sand.

"But……." Mewtwo trailed off, out of ideas. The inevitable black tide in his mind now shod off any hope of avoiding the doom that laid on the Eastern Horizon.

"We have all of today to prepare ourselves, but we must not be discovered. The Elders would flat out forbid this if they got word of it. Gather many canteens of water, large packs of jerked meats, and a cape and hood to protect yourself from the sun on the long journey. Tell this to no-one, and if anyone asks, you're just partaking in a little trading of your own. Do you understand?" Kalana whispered.

"Yes." Mewtwo whispered, already regretting everything he had told to Kalana. He knew he would have had to have left the village sometime, but he felt bad dragging her into it. He walked off toward the wagons and Kalana wandered over in another direction. They had an entire day to prepare for the long trip, but something in the air made the time fly for Mewtwo. By the time he had gathered all the supplies Kalana said told him to collect, it was well past noon. He stowed them in his hut and spent his last few hours mentally psyching himself for the arduous voyage ahead. He had small chat with all the Gerudos he knew best, hoping that it was a good enough goodbye for him. He had a dark feeling that he would not see many of his friends here again.

And when the sun had finally settled down halfway skewered by the horizon, Kalana pinned the note to Mewtwo's bed in his hut and they pulled their cloaks over their heads. No-one noticed them as they slipped out of the village and into the twilight.

A/N: Bumm bumm bumm! Unexpected twist huh? Well as I said, the next two chunks are going to be deliciously awesome. Just remember they will take more time than an average chunk. And as always, a little time to write a review goes a long way. Yes I'm reading your fics Ud, I'll write a review here soon :P


	10. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 9

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and put it up it in chunks. This is the NINTH chunk. Here we go, almost done with Book II! Only one more chunk left after this! Then we start into Book III! But anyways, this chunk is just as long as I promised. 18 Pages, bringing our total to 100 pages straight up! Read and enjoy!

Chapter XXVI

_The six sages of ancient Hyrule each represented their own elements; fire, water, forest, spirit, shadows, and light. They imbued their powers into six medallions, which together could bring about the coming of a hero. Legends say that Nabooru, the first Honorable Mother of the united Gerudos of old, was the Spirit Sage and possessor of the Spirit Medallion. When the wicked Gerudo king rose up to conquer the land, she and the other sages gave their Medallions to a small boy who would then become the Hero of time. After he smote down the Wicked King, the Hero traveled from these plains, never to be seen again, taking the Medallions with him._

And so Mewtwo and Kalana set out towards the East. Following no direction save a tugging sensation in the back of Mewtwo's mind, they flew the first miles out from the village until they reached the range of the next tower. Afterwards, they begrudgingly took to complete the rest of the journey on foot. A full moon illuminated the ghostly flat sand with a watery, pale-blue light. The stars twinkled unmovingly while the moon glowed down at them like a beacon. The air was completely still as they trudged through the sea of sand, and the silence was only broken by the padding of their footfalls and their steady panting. The sand came and went under their feet for hours, and neither of them spoke. They were keeping a pace so that neither of them were tiring quickly, but Kalana knew they would need to rest soon after the hours of walking they had done so far. She was used to these types of endurance stretching tests, but Mewtwo wasn't. They needed to keep moving though, or the sandworms would attack them. It was starting to get close to dawn, and the worms would be just waking up hungry right now. Mewtwo and Kalana pressed on.

As the moon neared the horizon and the stars dimmed in the sky, a blotch appeared on the landscape in front of them. As they kept walking, faint pink light began filtering into the dark dome of sky. They had walked the entire night now, and Kalana was surprised that Mewtwo had lasted this long. She could tell he was tired and in need of sleep, his panting slowly became rougher as they continued walking. The blotch slowly grew into a stone structure jutting violently up out of the sands, and Kalana marked it in her mind as their resting point for the coming day that was about to break. Then, something familiar caught her attention.

"Wait," Kalana whispered, stopping in her tracks. "Listen."

Through the thick, syrupy silence, the low, dull sound of a sandworm's roar rumbled over the now uneven sands. "Hurry!" Kalana shouted, knowing their secrecy had been lost.

Mewtwo tried his best to keep up with Kalana as they sprinted towards the stone structure ahead of them. The sound of the sandworm was not very far behind, and safety loomed only a couple hundred feet away. Mewtwo's body screamed at him, pain and fiery exhaustion would forcibly shut him down soon, but salvation was so close. When the sound of the sandworm was now deafening, they made a final full strength sprint towards the solid rock plaza in front of the structure. They dove onto it as the sandworm erupted out of the sand a few feet behind of where they bad been standing. The worm angrily turned away from the plaza, which was effectively a big wall around its prey. Safety had been found by a hair's breadth.

As Mewtwo and Kalana slowly recovered themselves, Mewtwo examined the area around them. He looked around to see that the stone plaza was about 15 by 15 feet, and that there was a single rough stone arch. The structure rising above them was a carved statue in the form of a Gerudo-like woman, holding her hands out as if offering 2 things. There was a doorway into the base of the statue.

"Where are we?" Mewtwo said, still gasping for breath.

"I haven't looked yet," Kalana said, pausing for a moment to recapture her breath, "Let me look."

Kalana slowly lifter her exhausted neck muscles to look around the area. Immediately she recognized worn Hylian script on the bases of the arch, and she nearly shrieked in shock when she saw the statue. It was the Desert Goddess, the Desert Colossus statue constructed thousands of years before the Age of Hyrule, the most powerful tribute to the eternal ways of the Gerudo. Kalana fell to her knees and prayed in Hylian.

"What? What is it?" Mewtwo asked bewilderedly, but Kalana ignored him and kept on praying in a hushed tone. After Kalana had finished the entire prayer, she sat up and stared in awe.

"I never thought I'd ever see the lost Colossus, the ancient and powerful dedication to the power of Spirit and the Spirit Sage. The desert is cruel and destructive with its erosive winds, and yet this shrine has remained intact for over 10,000 years." Kalana whispered. "Only the desert Goddess herself can have kept it strong for this long."

"It looks like there's a hole in it." Mewtwo said, pointing to the squarish doorway.

"That's the entrance to the temple itself. The Sprit Sage used to dwell within the Temple during the Age of Hyrule, and it is one of the Gerudo's most revered legends. To find the location of the Temple itself, this is not mere fate directing us here. We were meant to find it." Kalana said.

"Should we go inside?" Mewtwo asked.

"If the inside is in as good of a condition as the outside, then it should be safe and intact, but who is to say what we'll find in there. It is said that the Stepmothers of the Wicked King himself also dwelt in the depths of the Temple. What wrath we may invoke is beyond my mind. Only the Elders can tell if it is wise for us to even sit on this plaza." Kalana replied.

"Well, we haven't been smitten by any angry god yet, so why not go in?" Mewtwo said. "It might be a safe haven for resting."

"You will do best to not speak like that again. Wrath is not dealt out instantaneously. The Wicked King ruled the land of Hyrule many years before the Goddesses directed the hands of fate to topple him. Still, we have no other safe place to go, and the sun's harsh rays will not be helpful for us once the day arrives in full force. We have to go inside."

Mewtwo ground his teeth tightly at Kalana's rebuke, but she had a point. He asked his legs one more time to move him, and they dragged themselves into the darkness of the temple's interior. Inside, two torches sat burning on the walls, providing an unnatural amount of light. But Kalana and Mewtwo were to exhausted to care, as soon as they were inside, they took off their cloaks and used them for pillows on the stone floor. Sleep jumped on them both without mercy.

A cold, chilling breeze ran over Kalana, and she slowly awoke. Sunlight was burning in through the doorway behind them, and heat was radiating from it, but the inside of the Temple still felt oddly cool. As she looked around, what little doubt she harbored that this might not be the Spirit Temple was banished. In front of them, the two stone tablets stood, foretelling the Hero of Time's journey through the River of Time. The tablets, shaped in the form of hooded Cobras and their bellies inscribed with the Hylian Prophecies, stared down at them with their unblinking stone eyes. Between them, step lead up into the main hallway of the Temple, after which a maze of passages snaked outward, some of which that even she could not fit through. Again, the ghostly breeze swept over her, and she shivered unpleasantly. Mewtwo remained in his deep sleep on the floor, still tired from their night of walking. And she didn't know how many more nights like this they would both have to suffer through. And again, the same breeze swept around Kalana. She could no longer stand it, so she got up and walked out into the desert sun. The temperature change was astounding, and the heat blasted down at her like a furnace.

After a few minutes, Kalana felt uncomfortable in the unusually strong sun and relented back into the temple's hall. It felt like walking into a refrigerator. She hadn't noticed it last night, since the desert night was just as cool as the Temple's interior. Now it felt like the inside of that magic cool box the Blue Elder had stolen from the tower. Kalana sat down and opened one of her many water pouches. The water was just as cool as the room, and surprisingly refreshing. After she had closed the puch and laid down to rest some more, the breeze returned and whirled around her. She shivered not from the cold, but from fear. This was not a natural draft. She bolted upright and her eyes darted around the room. The torches seemed to dim slightly and there was a renwed chill in the air, more-so than usual. Then Kalana's eyes caught sight of an apparition on the top of the stairs, the form of a Gerudo figure staring down at them inquisitively. It vanished as soon as Kalana looked directly at it, and there was a whistle in the wind. Kalana's pulse was pounding as she reached over and grabbed Mewtwo to shake him awake.

The pleasant darkness of sleep was washing over Mewtwo like a cool tide when he felt his body suddenly vibrate itself back into reality. Kalana was clenching his arms like the ledge of a cliff that she was about to fall from. Mewtwo opened his eyes and saw she was pale and shaking.

"Wha….what's the matter?" Mewtwo asked.

"The spirits of the Gerudos of Old have visited us! They are trying to tell us something!" Kalana said frantically.

Mewtwo paused in disbelief. "Are you sure you're completely awake?" He asked.

Kalana was about to rebuke him when a powerful, gusting wind blasted out of the main hall, blowing past them, carrying on it the sound of metal clashing with metal, a shriek of pain, and insidious cackles like from an old witch. When the air was still again, Mewtwo and Kalana looked at each other without saying a word. And then Mewtwo suddenly felt the presence. Even without his powers, he was still very much away of the entities that dwelt in this temple. They had never been alone, it's just the ones who were there hadn't chosen to show themselves until now. Mewtwo joined Kalana in her shivers. Still the air remained silent, neither of them talked. And then, suddenly, Kalana stood up.

"I'm going into the temple." She said with new resolve. "There's something my ancestors want us to find. I intend to find it!"

Mewtwo felt the activity in the Temple, most of it was benevolent and non-threatening, but he could taste a hint of malevolence in the air as well. "I don't think it's a good idea! It's too dangerous!" He implored.

"I saw what I'm sure to be the form of the great Nabooru herself standing above us here on these steps! You can stay here, but I'm going to find out what she wants to tell me!" Kalana said, and walked off into the main hall of the Temple.

Mewtwo sighed at her stubbornness and followed. The energy in the atmosphere calmed slightly, but there was something at work here. A series of new events had been set in motion now that could not be undone, and neither he nor Kalana could predict what would happen next.

Chapter XXVII

_In detail of the Hylian legend of the Apocalypse: "It would start with the slow degradation of the world into a vast desert. Hyrule's vast fields of green and deep forests would slowly give way to the vicious sands, directed by the powerful hands of fate. Famine and starvation would wrack the land, and a plague would sweep the kingdom, taking many lives in its wake. And when Hyrule reached its darkest hour, it grew even darker. Evil would rain down out of the sky, thousands in a mindless army without souls. Then, the Darkest One would appear and take the three pieces of the Triforce for himself, thus bringing about the doom of all who remained in the Kingdom of Hyrule." Many Gerudos have equated this dark army mentioned in the legend with the Empire, but most feel skeptical. The Triforce was a powerful enough artifact that if it had fallen into the hands of the Empire, they would have destroyed the Gerudos long ago._

A cold draft and eerily flickering torches guided the two interlopers through the ancient, musty corridors of the Spirit Temple. Kalana walked through the ancient passages as if she had been there before. The rust colored stone on the walls was practically covered with ancient markings. Hylian script was scrawled across the walls, and there were many pictures depicting Hyrule, the Gerudos of old, and the Six Sages. Most prominent was the Hylian Symbol for "Spirit", appearing on every doorway and archway. Dust whirled around Mewtwo and Kalana's feet as they crept through the hallowed halls. The air tasted thick and stale as they traveled deeper into the Temple, and something rank, foul, and old seemed to be hanging in the air. Mewtwo felt royally uncomfortable, but Kalana pressed onward in dogged determination.

As the stale feeling in the air started to become overpowering, Mewtwo and Kalana turned a corner into an open room in the Temple. There stood before them yet another grand statue, depicting a similar Goddess with both hands outstretched. And to Kalana's horror, there was a hole where the face should be. A small platform was hanging from chains in front of this hole.

"Disgraceful!" Kalana growled. "Such defacement is abhorrent!"

Mewtwo tried to think of something to say about this, but his mind was seemingly encumbered by the atmosphere in the temple. The air almost pulsed with energy, the very air and stone seemed to hold impressions of energies past. They were intruding in upon his mind, and he was trying to push them out. And a rather foul presence seemed to be hanging about the head of the statue.

"Well, we need to keep searching," Kalana said. "Whatever it is that Nabooru wants us to find is still in here somewhere."

So the two of them picked another door, this one to their left, and walked up a series of stairs. At length, they reached a seeming dead end. Two statues stood in front of a grooved wall. At the top of the wall there was a ledge about 50 feet up.

"Looks like we'll need to climb." Kalana said.

Mewtwo frowned. He had never tried to climb with his bare paws before, he was used to flying. The suction cups on his fingers would be useful, but his feet would be unwieldy. Kalana grabbed onto the grooves in the wall and began hauling herself up. Mewtwo sighed, shook his head, and grabbed onto the grooves. His enormous weight right away became more apparent to him than it ever had been. As he slowly struggled up the wall, his skinny little arms screamed in pain. It felt like his shoulders and elbows would come out of their sockets. He grunted in pain as he pressed his fingers into the grooves and slowly pulled. At one point, his large toes lost their grip on the wall and all his weight fell onto his arms. He hugn nearly twenty feet over the ground, and a fall would be seriously injurious. Even worse, without his powers, he wouldn't be able to heal himself if he fell. His legs scrambled to get a hold on the wall and then finally caught back onto the grooves. He let out a sigh of powerful relief.

Kalana had long reached the top by the time Mewtwo reached the ledge. She helped him slowly overtake the ledge. They sat there a few minutes to rest, as Mewtwo could swear that his arms were about to break. Then when they had rested enough, they proceeded through the door that they had worked so hard to reach. Yet more sour smelling halls and rooms passed them by, until they reached a room with various mirrors around the walls. Light was reflecting off of them from a hole in the ceiling, and the light was directed around the room until it came to rest on a small crystal sticking out of the floor. By this crystal there was a hole in the floor. There were no other doors.

Mewtwo and Kalana looked down through the hole to see a platform hanging by chains a few feet below it. They climbed down to see it was the same platform hanging before the statue's head. Mewtwo and Kalana gasped in shock to see that the hole in the face was more than just mischievous graffiti, it was a passageway carved into the stone that led to another door. The strange ambient light that seemed to fill the rest of the Temple was absent here, the door at the end of the hallway was only barely visible through the evil looking gloom. Mewtwo swallowed hard.

"I think we should go back." Mewtwo said.

"Maybe, you're right. I don't like the feeling that this is giving me." Kalana said.

With Kalana's words, the once gentle draft that had guided them here suddenly blew up into a violent gale around them. The platform swayed dangerously in the wind, and the chains began to creak, threatening to give way. Mewtwo and Kalana only had one choice, the jumped from the platform into the dark corridor. As soon as they did, the rusty chains supporting the platform snapped and there was a loud crash as the platform shattered on the stone feet of the statue fifty feet below. The wind disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Mewtwo and Kalana looked at each other with frightened expressions before continuing on. They forged their way through the gloom and opened the thick, rusty steel door at the end of the hall.

The room they opened up was filled with more unexplainable light, and many pillars lined the "L" shaped hallway that it turned out to be. Small chunks of what appeared to be steel armor were strewn across the floor, covered with rust and evidence of sword blows on them. They turned the corner and yet another door laid in front of them. As they swung it open, it revealed an open room with a large elevated platform in the center. On the edges of this solid stone platform were hundreds of Hylian symbols and illustrations, and on the edge of the platform were grooves that were meant for climbing. Mewtwo was thankful that it was only a few feet's climb this time.

When Mewtwo and Kalana stood atop the platform, they marveled at the beautiful artwork that had been etched and painted onto the floor. The two symbols for fire and ice circled around the symbol for spirit, and elaborate swirls and messages were swathed around these three symbols.

"Here resided Koume and Kotake, Caretakers of the House of Spirit." Kalana said aloud, translating the text through the thick air.

"Custodians of the Great King, Great Disciples of Fire and Ice. They raised the King and brought him to leadership, yet the power of Spirit waned in his heart and he was wicked. Many die by his hands, and his will is imposed on that of Kotake and Koume. The Hero of Time, on his holy quest in pursuit of the Wicked King, was drawn here to the Shrine of Spirit, where he encountered the Two Sages. The Will of the King imposed them to brainwash Nabooru, and the Hero of Time smote them with the Master Sword. Here still lie Kotake and Koume, and as does Nabooru."

Kalana ended the read and looked around the room apprehensively.

"So they do lie here, the wicked sisters who betrayed the Gerudos of Old. They were only being influenced by the king…." Kalana whispered.

Then, with a loud bang, the door where they had entered slammed shut with a ringing clang. The air suddenly went cold, and Mewtwo and Kalana's breath suddenly became visible in the chilled air. And a dark swirling form appeared over their heads, twirling and twisting in a ghoulish dance. Eerie, spine chilling cackles filled the air, and Mewtwo shuddered with fright. And then, the shadow above their heads split in two and took on shape and form. Two hunched over figures hovered over their heads, yellow eyes agleam and emitting the icy cackles that were echoing around the room.

"Be undone!" The two forms cried in sharp tones, and one dove at Kalana while the other at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo had little time to react, he rolled to the side as the ghostly form whizzed past him. Where he had been, a patch of solid ice covered the stone floor. Mewtwo looked up to see the figure circling around him, preparing to make another pass. He wished dearly that he still had his powers. And then he felt Kalana's hand on his shoulder.

"Begone, Kotake and Koume! Leave these hallowed halls and be at rest!" Kalana shouted. The two ghostly forms simply cackled and hissed back at her.

"A mere child!" one of the witches laughed to the other.

"She thinks she can tell us what to do?" the other replied, shrieking.

"We will show her who we are!" The first replied. Then they both dove down towards Kalana and Mewtwo.

And before the ghostly forms of Kotake and Koume could strike Kalana down, she pulled out a simple bow and arrow from her satchel. She raised it and pointed it at the two marauding ghouls, and a blinding white light shone from the tip of the arrow.

"I am Kalana! Daughter of Hadara, Thirtieth Elder of the Red Gerudo Tribe! You shalt not harm us!" Kalana shouted with extreme force. The two ghouls shrieked in pain and shock at the sight of the Light Arrows.

"No! Not the Arrows of the Light!" One of them cried. They twirled around the ceiling, howling in rage and agony.

"Go now! Leave this place to the ages! Such is the will of the Descendants of the Gerudo line!" Kalana cried. And the shrieking ghosts howled one l;ast time before disappearing into the ceiling.

The light on the tip of the arrow went out as Kalana lowered the noble bow and sighed with relief. The atmosphere in the room lightened dramatically, the evil presence Mewtwo had felt dissolved and the energy in the Temple slowly began slipping away. Mewtwo, who had nearly been paralyzed with fright, slowly let his tense muscles relax. He let out a long, hearty sigh and sat on the floor where the ice spot had been. He was slightly surprised that Kalana had managed to steal the light arrows from her ever watchful mother, but it they had saved their lives, so he didn't give it a second though. And then, as he had just mulled these thoughts over, he felt another draft of wind and nearly jumped with fright. Kalana raised the light arrows again and pointed them around the room, searching for the source of the wind.

Another figure appeared before them, but not of the witches that had assaulted them earlier. A young Gerudo of light, wispy build appeared in the air. Kalana dropped the light arrows in awe. The young figure smiled warmly at them, and pointed at the center of the platform below them. Then, slowly faded away into nothing. Not a sound had been heard except the arrows clattering to the ground.

"It was her….Nabooru." Kalana whispered.

Mewtwo noticed where the form of Nabooru had pointed, the circular symbol for Spirit in the center of the platform. Around it's edges a slot was apparent.

"She, indicated there, that symbol." Mewtwo said, pointing at it.

"This is what she wants us to find!" Kalana said, and then leaned down over the stone carving. Slowly, she and Mewtwo gripped the edge of the symbol and pulled upwards. With enough force, it popped out of the indentation, revealing a golden Medallion set into a slot in the stone. The symbol for spirit gleamed on the golden Medallion's face, winking back up at them.

"And here it lies, the Spirit Medallion." Kalana said, staring at it in admiration. "Never had I dreamed to even enter the Ancient Temple of Spirit, but for my eyes to rest upon the pure manifestation of Spirit's power, laid down into matter by Nabooru herself…….I……It's miraculous!" Kalana said.

Mewtwo reached his paw down and touched the polished surface of the Medallion. It was cold to the touch, but it radiated warmth and goodness of soul. He grabbed its edges and yanked it out of the stone where it laid, and fell backwards, staring at its beauty. And then, a sudden overflow of energy filled his mind and body, the elemental essence of spirit swarmed in and around him, and reality blurred away from his vision. He saw Nabooru and the other Five Sages standing in a great blue lit plane, filled with flowing water and energy. The image shifted to a green, grassy field, Hyrule itself. Wondrous lakes, lush forests, a great smoking mountain, and the familiar orange of the Gerudo desert appeared in front of him. And over it all, a great white castle reached to the sky, edges painted a noble blue and the stone a marvelous white. And the image shifted again. The sky grew black, the forests shriveled, the lakes dried up, and the desert grew like a cancer. The great white castle collapsed into rubble, and a great black tower rose in its place.

Mewtwo smarted when Kalana's hand struck him over the face.

"Come out of it!" She shouted. "Don't do this to me again!"

Mewtwo sat up, the images suddenly gone from his mind. He still felt power rushing through his veins. "I saw…..Hyrule." He said. "This Medallion, it's power showed it to me."

Kalana stood silent, not disbelieving him at all.

"And….I know where we need to go!"

Chapter XXVIII

_There have been many tales circulating through Gerudo History about the First Honorable Mother, Nabooru. Born to be the Sage of Spirit, she lived twice as long as an average Gerudo, a whole 1000 years. It is widely believed that she was around the age of 50 when the events involving the Wicked King took place. When the Hero of Time rose against the Wicked King and collected the Medallions from each of the Sages, each one of the Sages had been carefully hidden and put under control by the Wicked King or his minions. The Hero had to awaken the Sages and restore their memories, and then use the Medallions that they gave him to defeat the Wicked King. Nabooru had been put into submission by the two witches Kotake and Koume, and they used her as their own personal muscle. When the Hero freed Nabooru, smote the witches, and took the Medallion, Nabooru was once again free to lead her people. Once the Wicked King had been vanquished and peace restored, she resumed trade and peace with the Hylians as long as she could. But once the war broke out between the two races, she became a vicious tactician that helped stay the tide of superior Hylian forces. And once the war ended with the slow and silent growth of the Vile Desert, the Gods gifted her with four daughters, each of which whom would grow to become the first Elders of the four tribes._

With the final rays of the sun disappearing over the horizon, Mewtwo and Kalana struck out into the desert once more. Mewtwo had stuffed the Spirit Medallion into his backpack and continued onward, the spurt of power it had awarded him had long gone. Yet he still had a sense that it was there, lingering. He just didn't know how to bring it out. And once more they set a smooth pace through the sands and the hours ticked by. Soon the stars came out, twinkling in the now deep violet sky. The moon peeked over the edge of the sky and a crater on its surface looked almost like an eye staring at them. And the Eastern horizon held a stronger sense of dread for the both of them. With four days left and their supplies slowly diminishing, it now seemed that Kalana's decision to leave had been a rash and stupid one to both of them now. And they had been lucky this morning, finding the shelter of the Spirit Temple. They had no way to know if they could find a similar haven from the worms tomorrow. Their journey could be suddenly and viciously cut short by a hungry sandworm's jagged rows of teeth. Still they walked, letting these horrid thoughts boil and fester in their minds, not knowing that they were both thinking the exact same things.

For the rest of the night they walked and thought like this, both of them worrying more as the sand slowly became courser and thicker beneath their feet. As the moon soundlessly crept across the sky above them, there was a bit of a change in the feeling of the atmosphere. Mewtwo didn't feel it, but Kalana had noticed it the third hour after they had started their trek from the Temple. The air smelled almost, fresher, with a tinge of actual humidity. Kalana felt it, but tried to throw it off as the long hours working on her mind. When the first few signs of pink appeared in the sky and the sounds of sandworms were heard in the distance, the horizon on all sides was completely empty, the desert stretched on for miles.

Mewtwo panted heavily and poured buckets of sweat as he continued his march with Kalana. Morning was coming very soon, and the sound of two sandworms fighting was heard way off in the distance behind them. They were probably fighting over some unfortunate being that had found its way into one of their jaws. Now it was getting dangerous. There was no cover to be seen and the sounds of sandworms were becoming louder and closer the longer they walked. Mewtwo's worry was now blocking out all the pain from his exhausted muscles. And then, the familiar roar of pursuit was heard behind them. The chase was on again, only this time there was no hope lingering in the near distance.

Kalana nearly jumped with fright when she heard the sandworm's roar behind them. It was the same horrifying roar that they all emitted when they had found live prey. Soon there could be another fight between worms, only over their dead bodies instead of some distant beast's. Kalana signaled Mewtwo to run and she doubled her own pace to match Mewtwo's fastest sprint. And it was seemingly hopeless, as the roar of the worm and the rumbling of the sand was coming closer and closer with each of their steps. It was five minutes before they could see the horrible form of the worm flying through the air behind them in pursuit and they knew now that there was no escape. Kalana swallowed hard and whispered a Hylian death prayer as the worm landed maybe 20 feet behind them. The shaking of the sand nearly knocked her off of her feet as she ran. And then, the worm burst out of the sand only a few scant feet behind them. Its huge mouth opened up and it's rows of glistening white dagger teeth shined in a strange Golden light. Kalana saw death about to devour her from the back, and then looked away so not to see her last moments. Then she saw where the Golden Light was coming from.

Mewtwo didn't know how it happened, or how it had occurred to him to take out the Medallion in the last seconds before the worm lunged at them, but he did. His small paws found the glimmering Gold and pulled out of his backpack. And when it's light spilled out of his pack, he felt the same pulsing spiritual energy as he had felt before. He turned to the worm as he rand and concentrated this power the same way he would one of his psychic energy attacks. And then, a Golden beam of power flew from the Medallion and into the worm's mouth. The worm shrieked in surprise and pain and fell back, away as its bite missed their backs. Its tail swelled and burst, and the beam of Gold emerged from the hole it had drilled right through the worm's innards to its tail. It slumped to a stop on top of the sand and emitted a low rumbling moan of pain before shuddering one last time as death gripped it. A silence hung in the morning air.

At length however, this silence was broken. The sounds of other sandworms were heard. Sandworms that, knowing the plight of their comrade, were undoubtedly coming to feast upon his body. Mewtwo and Kalana needed not to exchange words; they took off as fast as their feet could take them. The corpse of the other sandworm was about to become a buffet for the other worms, and they didn't need to risk the possibility that one might not miss two little appetizers standing nearby. They were miles away from the dead sandworm when the others arrived for the feast. And to put one more iron guarantee of survival into place, Mewtwo and Kalana stayed moving until the sun crept all the way above the horizon like a swimmer coming of a pool. When morning had reached full force and the sandworms had finished their hunting, Mewtwo and Kalana collapsed onto the sands to get some rest. To ensure their safety, they slept in shifts. Because of their intense exhaustion, they found it easy to sleep right through the blazing sun in four hour shifts. They did this for 12 hours, splitting the last 4 into two so that they both got at least 6 hours of sleep each.

By the time the last split shift had ended, the sun was already setting and the sky darkening. They forced their still painful limbs to push onward as they set out yet again. The same dreary night routine by now was wearing on their minds, and neither of them talked for fear of saying something that might upset the other. And now Kalana was forced to acknowledge the distinct change in the flavor of the air. There was definite humidity and freshness, defying the regular atmosphere of a desert. And now, the sand was no longer pristine or even. Small stones and pebbles peppered the rough sandy ground, and here and there she saw a fist sized rock. And during one of the mind numbing hours of routine, she even found a red rock the size of her head lying half covered in the sand. The environment was clearly shifting as they moved across the desert, and Mewtwo soon noticed the change in the air as well. He may have been better attuned to the psychic realm than Kalana, but he was not very observant of the environment. He only noticed it when a sharp rock poked his now raw and sensitive foot. He cursed for a few brief moments but Kalana didn't say anything. The wall of silence re-instated itself with an iron will.

By the time the moon was setting and pink was becoming visible on the horizon, Mewtwo was ready to deal with the sandworms again. He turned the Spirit Medallion over and over again in his paws, waiting to use it. But as dawn became brighter and brighter over the rim of the sky, not a sound of the sandworms was to be heard. The ground was rough and rocky under their feet, and Kalana stopped walking all of a sudden.

"Why are you stopping?" Mewtwo asked as Kalana slowly sat and put her ears to the ground.

"I think…..the ground here is too rough and rocky for the sandworms." She said as complete silence from the ground met her ear. Not even the faintest vibration could be sensed by her trained ear. The air hung still and no roars were heard in the distance. "I think we can stop here for the day."

"Still, we should sleep in shifts again, just in case." Mewtwo replied.

Kalana nodded and slowly lied down. A rock jabbed her in the cheek and she cursed in Hylian and tossed it aside. "I'll sleep first. You know what to do if anything happens."

Mewtwo nodded. As Kalana quickly slipped into a deep sleep, Mewtwo gazed into the Eastern Horizon to pass the time. Off in the distance, he could barely make out the ridge of something in the extreme distance. They were getting close to their goal and Mewtwo knew it. He watched in the distance until the sun's position indicated four hours had passed, and he shook Kalana awake before collapsing into his own catatonic sleep.

Chapter XXIX

_Depression has often become a serious condition for Gerudos in the recent years. As life on the Vile Desert drags on at its sluggish pace, young Gerudos often look to the future, hoping to see a bright one. The Elders, knowing this, always make sure to tell the younger Generation tales of ancient Hyrule, and that no matter how impossible it seems, that someday the world will return to that state. It serves to momentarily stay the jaws of despair, but as the years progress more and more Gerudos of all ages have been committing suicide. Some Elders fear that despite all the years of tenaciously holding onto the existence, the Gerudo people may eventually give up one day. And they work constantly to prevent it, passing along these lessons to their daughters so that they tooo might preserve the Gerudo race._

Mewtwo woke slowly as a pain in his side filtered through the inky blackness of sleep. He sat up and pulled a rock out from under his left leg. He saw the sun was halfway set already, and that he would have had to wake up soon even if the rock hadn't disturbed him. Kalana saw him sit up and spoke.

"Awake already? And to think that I once had trouble waking you up." Kalana said.

"It helps when you've been lying on a pointy rock for hours on end." Mewtwo said, lobbing the rock away. It clattered on top of another one and the air was silent a moment.

"You've still got a good half an hour left," Kalana said. "Why don't you go back to sleep a little longer?"

Mewtwo shook his head. "I couldn't get back to sleep if I wanted to. There's too much worry in my mind."

"Funny, you didn't seem to have trouble going to sleep this morning." Kalana replied.

"Sometimes the body can override the mind like cutting power to a light bulb." Mewtwo retorted. Kalana tilted her head in confusion. Mewtwo remembered that she didn't know what a light bulb was and let out a heavy sigh. "Shall we set out again?" He asked.

"We might as well. I'm certainly not going to be able to sleep anymore today when the fact that we have two days left and only one day's worth of supplies." Kalana said wearily. Mewtwo's stomach growled at the mention of supplies.

"What do you say we take a quick bite with our extra time?" Mewtwo suggested.

Kalana grinned. "I thought you'd never ask. With that, they sat down, sorted out their remaining food and water and compiled it all into just two sacks. The empty sacks were discarded to lighten their load and they slowly savored some of the sandworm jerky that Kalana had packed. Mewtwo finished off his third canteen of water. Kalana was on her second. Together they had originally brought ten, a back breaking load, now they were down to four collectively. Their loads were much lighter, but their anxiety grew heavier. Once they had filled their stomachs, Mewtwo and Kalana stood, facing the East with renewed resolve.

"We're close." Mewtwo said, squinting into the horizon. "I can see something far out in the distance."

"I see it too." Kalana replied. "Wherever we need to be, that's a sign that we're nearby."

The walking now seemed doubly tiring for Mewtwo. After having walked 12 hours straight every night for three days his legs were starting to feel worn and broken down. He had never used this much physical strength in his life. The hours passed by like doves fluttering in the wind. The moon, now seemingly halved in size, hung half-heartedly in the drunken air. Kalana smelled something in the air. It was so unfamiliar to the desert environment that she could not identify it. But Mewtwo could. He remembered spending those weeks in Viridian Forest, and he thought he'd never smell this smell again; trees. When he first recognized it, he didn't believe it. He tossed it aside in his mind as the desert and the routine toying with his mind. But as they passed the hours walking, the smell got stronger and stronger. And the ground was getting less sandy by the mile. The amount of rocks was diminishing as well. It was almost as if they were walking on the beginnings of actual bare soil. When the memory of the soft peat of the forest floor came flooding back to Mewtwo, he pined to feel that feeling again. His feet ached for it, the feeling of yielding yet firm ground that would not slip away under them. And then Mewtwo felt something brush across his leg that he hadn't felt in almost a year. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What? What is it?" Kalana said urgently.

"Grass." Mewtwo whispered. He reached down and found the lone stalk sticking up from the ground. It wasn't living too well on a mix of soil and sand, but it was there, and that was all that Mewtwo cared about.

"What? Here?" Kalana gasped.

Mewtwo hesitated, and then plucked a leaf gently from the slender stem. He handed it to Kalana without saying a word. Feelings spoke louder than any words he could muster. Kalana took the leaf from his hand.

"I….can't believe it! I thought it only grew in the water rooms of the Imperial towers! And…I've never felt a live leaf before; all of the grass we've stolen was dried and used as roofs for huts. It's, so smooth…" Kalana said. After a brief pause, a small, unseen tear found its way out of her eye. No one knew of it in the dark except her. "I knew….that something like this still existed in this world!" Kalana said, her voice raising in joy and excitement. She smiled and hugged the small leaf to her body, briefly feeling giddy before a frightening noise split the night air.

A sheer, hoarse voice called over the sands in the distant East, and Kalana's eyes jolted upward to track the source. Three glowing pods were moving towards them from the East, Imperial hover cars. And slowly, the sound of a warm voice called across the rich ground.

"Incantation!" Kalana whispered fiercely. She ripped two pieces of cloth off of her cape and stuffed them into her ears. Mewtwo did the same and their rushed Southerly to clear that path that the cars were cutting through the half desert. They watched the cars pass off into the distance and out of sight before tentatively taking out their temporary ear plugs.

"I'm keeping these, just in case." Mewtwo said, stuffing his bits of cloth into the robe's inner pocket. Kalana nodded in agreement and they righted their course and continued to plod onward toward the line of objects now visible in the East. It was clearly the edge of something, whether it be a rocky outcropping or a group of tall objects, neither of them knew, but Mewtwo followed the feeling in the back of his head to the letter.

After several more hours of walking, Kalana and Mewtwo were both suppressing a gale of pure shock that had blown through them. They were close enough to this scene on the horizon to distinctly make out trees. And not just any trees, these were extremely large. As they walked, the trees grew taller and taller and the sand finally gave way to moist soil under their feet. They trudged up in absolute awe to the tree line. A slight breeze twisted through the air, and green leaves drifted lazily down from the tops of the canopy. And right at their feet, the trees met the desert like the front line of a war. Only this war was being fought silently over a great amount of years, and the desert was winning. But the majestic sight of the ancient and proud trees was striking. And as the moonlight played off the gently rustling leaves, all was completely calm and beautiful.

Neither Mewtwo nor Kalana knew what to say. They looked at each other questioningly as the silent giants stood watching them. Mewtwo then nodded, and they cautiously walked into the forest. Because the trees were so massive, there was ample space between each tree for them to travel in. Overhead, the wise old trees rustled in the breeze as if conversing about these two strangers wandering about their feet. Mewtwo could almost hear words whispered in the silent and steady sound of the leaves caressing each other. And the mile high trees looked back down at him.

Many more hours passed through the night, and Kalana had a hard time telling when dawn had finally broken over the tree shrouded sky. The foliage was so thick that it seemed like a perpetually dark cave, complete with the trunks as stalagmites and stalactites that connected the roof to the ground. And there was not the sound of any hungry sandworm or Imperial hover car. And when they were about ready to stop to sleep at the roots of a particularly large tree, they turned a corner and saw a clearing. In the center of the clearing stood the tallest, thickest, mightiest tree that Mewtwo had ever seen in his life. It must have stretched up into the sky many hundreds of feet above its companions. But the most distinguishing feature was that it had a protrusion on it's truck that looked like an old, gnarled nose. Mewtwo and Kalana approached this tree and looked upward into it's immeasurable vastness. As they admired its girth, a startling sound made itself heard in the clearing, a pronounced cough.

Mewtwo and Kalana jumped on guard, but saw that the clearing was empty. And then, the sound of heavy breathing slowly began huffing out behind them. They slowly turned to face the tree, and to their horror and shock, two eyes had opened above the same feature Mewtwo had seen as a nose! With a great sigh, a mouth opened underneath the nose and an old, creaky voice came from the tree's depths.

"Who goes there?" It thundered.

Kalana looked a pale as a sheet, but she responded. "I am called Kalana. I am the thirty first heir to the Eldership of the Red Gerudo tribe."

"And, who is your odd looking companion?" The tree asked.

"I am Mewtwo." He suddenly said with renewed confidence. "I came to this world seeking refuge and have found discord. I am on a journey with Kalana to right the wrongs in this world." He said proudly.

"There are more things wrong in this world than you might think, young world traveler." The tree said wisely. "My ancestors and I have watched over this world for nearly five ages. You would not believe the horrors, and heroism, that this world has seen."

"Might we ask, who, what are you?" Kalana said, tripping over the words as to try and avoid offending this wise tree.

"I am the Great Deku Tree, the fifth in my line. I've been watching this world's dark age for nearly 3000 years now, and not once has anyone come this far to the East besides the dark ones and their tools." The Deku Tree said.

"Dark Ones?" Mewtwo sputtered.

"Oh yes. They've had a stranglehold on this world's essence for so long, I'm not sure if I'll survive another decade." The Deku tree said. "This forest is all that's left of the once noble acres of Hyrule. Back then there were trees for miles, followed closely by green grasslands and prosperous farms. Now all that's left is my last few friends and me. The desert is taking them slowly, dragging them down with its sandy claws of death. And ever more the Dark Tower just a bit farther East stands, laughing at me as I try to exert some influence on this wretched world. And now, I can feel it, the day of reckoning for this world is coming." The Deku Tree said.

"What do you mean?" Mewtwo asked.

"There comes a day for every world where it will be decided if it is worthy to go on existing or not. Such a day has came to this world before, but not to such an extent as this. My father before me told me of Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo people who conquered Hyrule and nearly brought about its end. The Hero of Time had to awaken to defeat the King of Evil, and it is as he said, the world lived on. Now something much more evil draws in the East, and now the true day of reckoning is coming." The Deku Tree said.

Mewtwo soaked these last sentences in with every scrap of memory power he could muster. "Did you say, Dark Tower in the near East?" He asked.

"Oh yes, it is the heart of the Dark Ones' control on this world. If I could uproot myself and walk over there to stop it, I would, but I fear it's nearly time for my watch on this world to end. And so we shall all fall, unless you succeed." The Deku Tree said.

Mewtwo blinked. "What?" He gasped.

"I know who you are, and what your true fate with the East is young one. I have seen your coming in my sleep for the past century. I was merely confused because every time I foresaw your journey, I saw you taking it alone. The princess here was conspicuously absent."

If Kalana looked pale before, she now looked as though she was composed of bleached flour. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came. The Deku Tree spoke again before she could find her words.

"More than just the fate of one world lies on your shoulders now Mewtwo." The Deku Tree said. "Your essence is sought by many yet wanted by none. Great danger awaits you in the near and far future, but if you succeed, you will earn an eternal resting place among all the universes' cosmic heroes. Now then, I'm sure you're exhausted by you long trip through the desert, why don't you settle down in my little meadow and rest for awhile. And don't worry about your safety. I may not have much influence on most of the world, but the Forest is still my domain. I can will nothing to harm you, and nothing will. Now take some rest. I plan to as well, so do join me." The Deku Tree said. And with that, his great yellow eyes closed and his craggy mouth slid shut. A slow rumble of what had to be a tree snore came from the depths of the wood.

Kalana and Mewtwo slowly betted down in the grass. They needn't take shifts thanks to the Deku tree, and Mewtwo looked forward to a full 12 hour sleep. But before he laid down to take this rest, he asked Kalana one last thing.

"Were there any legends about the Deku Tree that you knew of?" He asked.

"My mother is still teaching me all the tales to this day, so there might be, but I haven't learned it. Surely, he is wise beyond many of our years." Kalana whispered.

Mewtwo nodded thoughtfully and smiled. "Are you ready for some serious rest?" He asked.

"Bet I can sleep in longer than you!" Kalan said on the edge of a giggle.

"You're on!" Mewtwo said and they lowered their heads to the soft soil enthusiastically. Sleep came onto them both quickly, unlike the Deku Tree. He quit his fake snoring as Mewtwo and Kalana drifted off. He cocked one eye open to examine Mewtwo one last time. It was surely the savior he has seen so many times in his dreams. He then closed his woody eyelids and joined the two in the sanctity of safe slumber.

A/N: Wha? I only got 2 reviews for my last chunk? Murmurs sadly. I guess it's the bad Karma I'm getting for not reviewing Ud's fic. I'll do that here soon. Please review, I need to know what you think!


	11. Part II: Desert Wind Chunk 10

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part II: Desert Wind**

A/N: I decided to split this book up and put it up it in chunks. This is the TENTH chunk and the CONCLUSION OF BOOK II! This is the big finale, the final shebang! We're done with Book II! But this is not the end of "Crossing of the Paths, no siree! I'm planning on a Third Book! WARNING: Many chapters in this chunk contain graphic violence, including blood, gore, and death. Also, there is a format change near the end of the chunk. We'll be changing from Anecdotes at the beginning of each chapter to Mysterius dialogue! It doesn't take effect right away, but you'll know when it does! And don't neglect the Author's not at the end of the chunk either, there's some important info there too! Now, on to the finale! There's a whopping 30 pages here, so get yourself some popcorn n and enjoy!

Chapter XXX

"_Born in darkness yet made in thunder_

_Destined to tear many worlds asunder_

_Sitting in the East's Dark Cloud_

_Wreathed in shadow, hidden by cloud_

_Looked at by many yet seen by none_

_Plans all made yet steps undone_

_Searching through all time and space_

_An amorphous shadow without a face_

_Itself it battles through the ages_

_Same and different in many stages_

_If one side wins it also loses_

_Destiny neither side ever uses_

_And at their heart they are still one_

_A simple tragedy and a bond undone"_

_-Gerudo folk song from a poem written by the Ninth Yellow Tribe Elder. It is said that this Ninth Elder had many dreams about the inner workings of the Empire, and often wrote about what she saw._

Mewtwo slowly awoke to the sound of the Deku Tree's voice.

"Wake young ones, a storm doth brew now in the East." The Deku Tree said.

Mewtwo shook the sleep from his head and suddenly heard the low rumble of thunder in the distance. Yet another thing he hadn't heard for many months of his desert stay, he expected rain to come down from the sky.

"Good, I'm glad. I could sure use a lot of fresh water right now." Mewtwo said as Kalana slowly sat up.

"There is no water in the clouds I see; only malevolence that threatens to burn the last ones alive on this world. This is not a rainstorm." The Deku Tree said worrisomely.

"What? How is that possible?" Kalana asked, standing up now.

"You had several messages delivered to you in your dreams, am I correct Mewtwo?" The Tree asked.

"Yes, It told me I had a limited amount of time to come to the East." Mewtwo replied.

"I fear your time's almost up. A torrent of evils is preparing to fall with the coming of dawn." The Deku Tree said. "You only have this last night to meet your foes before everything here becomes nothing." Another rumble of thunder punctuated the Deku Tree's words. Mewtwo and Kalana stifled a shudder.

"We need to leave now then!" Mewtwo said hastily. "Come on, gather your things Kalana!"

"Before you go though, I want you to have something." The Deku Tree said, rustling his leaves. Mewtwo stood up, pausing from his packing.

At first, only a small twinkle of light was visible, but then it grew into a solid green glow. From the highest of the Deku Tree's branches came a glimmering green Medallion, perfectly round and with the Hylian Symbol for "Forest" carved into it. It floated down to Mewtwo, and he took it into his hands. He felt the elemental energy rush through him, the dense and satisfying feeling of putting down roots and growing leaves. It almost felt like just standing in the mild sun for a whole day and soaking up the nutritious rays of a friendly sun. And then, the feeling was gone and he was himself again. The Forest Medallion shone brilliantly in his hands. Mewtwo pulled out the Spirit Medallion and held it side by side with its brother of Forest. The two blazed with energy as they touched, each complementing the other, and then the surge was over.

"They are not whole without each other, the Medallions of old." The Deku Tree said. "The more of them you have, the more powerful they become. In this case the whole is many times stronger than just the sum of its parts. Alas, I do not have the other Medallions. Water, Fire, Shadow and Light are all hidden over the rest of Hyrule's remains. And you have scarcely the time to make it to the East before the Torrent is released. I have done what I can for you now. Go with the speed and the blessing of the Forest."

So Mewtwo and Kalana left the Deku Tree with many thanks and much reverence. They traveled just a bit farther Eastward before the line of trees broke again and the Eastern sky became visible. What met Mewtwo and Kalana's eyes filled them with dread. Black, sinister boiling clouds were churning in the Eastern sky, and bright red lightning flashed around the swirling center. At the center was the tip of a hideous black tower, with four sharp spires rising up to meet the insidious clouds. Jagged rows of ugly horns and spikes came from ever portion of the tower, which appeared to be many miles high. And from the tower came the most menacing energy either one of them had ever felt. It made Kotake and Koume seem like small flies. It practically exuded negative, horrific feelings of rage, sorrow, and terror. The cracks and rumbles of thunder echoed across the open field as the clouds roiled and grew bigger in the sky. Pure evil energy pulsated at the tip of the tower, flowing from the spires into the sky. The base of the tower was obscured by distance. Mewtwo and Kalana swallowed hard. Their knees nearly buckled under them from the sheer terror caused by the sight of the Dark Tower. And unlike the rest of the world, here existed a pocket of energy. Mewtwo didn't notice it at first, but he could once again utilize his abilities.

Once Mewtwo and Kalana got over the initial horror of seeing such a monstrosity, they noticed the area just ahead of them was bustling with activity. All along the horizon in the near and far distance stirs of dust indicated Imperial activity. Every hovercar and tank was heading inwards, toward the tower. And near the tower's base, a great hulking thing sat on the ground. It was oval shaped and black in color, and on its back three glowing circles extruded from its tail. All Imperial troops and vehicles were heading toward it at top speed. Mewtwo and Kalana gathered their courage as best as they could and moved forward towards the looming terror. They walked at their same pace as usual, but making sure they did not get anywhere close to the rapidly retreating Imperial troops and vehicles. Many hours passed like this, with them following the black clad vehicles towards the dark inner sanctum of the Empire.

When they got close enough, Mewtwo and Kalana saw that the oval shaped hulk had many openings in its side. Ramps lead up into its interior. The troops and vehicles were pouring into it. The whole of this construction must have been at least three miles long and a mile wide. It was no wonder that these thousands of troops and vehicles could easily fit inside. As they got closer and closer, the base of the tower became visible and the last few straggler troops made it inside the odd looking oval. Mewtwo and Kalana stopped dead in their tracks when they heard loud rumbles emit from the structure that the troops had entered, and the ramps slowly slid into the doorways and the doors shut. And then, a loud thunderous rumble discharged from the structure and the blue circles on its back blazed to life. With a deafening roar the entire structure raised off the ground, and it became apparent to Mewtwo that this wasn't some sort of oversized troop housing structure, but a troop carrier starship. The Empire had space travel technology. As the ship rose slowly up through the air, its circular engines roared to life to life with a mighty blast and it jerked up through the violently churning sky into the night. The once giant ship turned into a tiny speck and then disappeared through the clouds. A particularly loud crack of thunder gleefully called out as the clouds slowly grew towards the western horizon. The destructive force was getting larger and larger. Mewtwo and Kalana once again were only barely able to summon up enough bravery to proceed.

As the base of the tower grew larger and larger, Mewtwo became aware of the energy now hanging in the air. He tried lifting a rock with his powers to see if they had been restored. It obediently hovered over the now barren dry dirt.

"It looks like I can use my powers again." Mewtwo noted as he let the rock return to the ground.

"Good, we could use them here soon." Kalana said.

Kalana indicated to the surface of the tower, where jagged layers of spikes hid patrolling guards. Still, they only saw mindless men and women of various races, including Gerudos and others they couldn't recognize. Several mean looking energy guns protruded from all over the tower. And the hinting sound of the incantation drifted through the air again.

"Earplugs at the ready?" Mewtwo asked.

Kalana nodded and pulled out the ripped bits of cloth from her pocket and stuffed them into her ears. Mewtwo did the same.

"Invisibility at the ready?" Kalana asked.

Mewtwo nodded and skillfully pulled the energy from the air to cloak them both. They slipped completely out of all visible spectrums.

"We're ready." Mewtwo said heavily.

He and Kalana looked back one more time to the West. The demon clouds were now almost ready to touch the horizon, and were surely past the Deku Tree's forest and over the Vile Desert. Lightning spat hatefully down from them everywhere. Then, Mewtwo picked them both up and flew up to the door of the tower.

"_The door is open…come on in._"

Chapter XXXI

_Only one Gerudo has ever had truly powerful foresight abilities, the Twenty-ninth Elder of the Red Tribe. She was a champion of old legends, saying that they were more than just myths. She said that they were all complete truths and that the prophecies laid down by the Hylian Sages would come to pass in the near future. She especially believed in the legends of the Dark Wanderer, saying that he would come during her daughter's lifetime. On her deathbed, she is rumored to have given one last prophecy before passing away. She said that the sky would rain bolts of destruction and that the desert would fall away into the Earth in a violent storm of hate. Not many have believed her, except her daughter._

Hadara sighed and walked through the desert sands as her mind roiled with worry. It had been five days now since her daughter Kalana and their odd friend Mewtwo had disappeared into the Vile Desert. The Red and Blue Gerudos had been searching Co-operatively for days, but they found nothing. Various reports saw the two moving off into the East, but none of their tribeswomen would dare go far to look. An evil feeling permeated the air there. And this morning, Hadara heard and saw a familiar and horrifying thing in the Easter sky.

That morning, she had only sensed it; A feeling of malignancy slowly creeping and brooding in the Eastern sky. But as the day of searching passed by, it became visible manifesting as ill-omened black clouds climbing over the Eastern horizon. Every now and again her ears would hear an almost inaudible rumble. As evening approached, they had grown into bloated wicked looking thunderheads. And she could tell they were not natural either. Lightning flashed a crimson red in amongst the clouds as they crept closer and closer.

She and the other searchers slowly trudged back to the village empty handed again at nightfall. The Blue Elder consoled her and tried to comfort her.

"I lost my daughter in almost the exact same fashion." She said. "I know how you feel."

"But Ciela's mind had been twisted by the Imperial mind control. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that Kalana left by her own free will." Hadara said.

"There's no way to tell." The Blue Elder replied. "She's not here to tell us is she?"

With that, Indiru strode up to them from the shadows abruptly. "Mother, it is time." She said.

The Blue Elder frowned in annoyance. "Time for what?" She asked gruffly.

"The wanderer, he is meeting the world's destiny." Indiru replied.

Hadara knew immediately what Indiru had meant. She remembered the stories her mother had told her. The memories of her description came flooding back to her. "_And great clouds of evil will rain fiery death on the world in a mighty storm of hate. A great wave of dark death would wash over the desert in a deadly tide. And then the Earth would open up and swallow whoever remained. This will come to pass, if the wanderer should fail._" The clouds were starting to gather, the time was coming. The satchel Hadara was holding dropped out of her hands. A sudden low rumble of thunder growled from the East. All three of them shuddered at once.

"Now comes the time when all will either fall or rise." Hadara said. "The turning point that all the legends have spoken of."

The Blue Elder looked out into the Eastern horizon, as if trying to explain where the clouds had come from, but the unnatural flashes of red lightning silenced her. A defying crack of thunder dared her to speak skeptically. "What is it that we should do?" She asked.

No-one spoke for a great few seconds, until Indiru finally got up enough courage to speak her mind. "Nothing….nothing but hope and pray that Mewtwo will arrive in time to stop this."

"I can't believe this nonsense!" A voice shouted from behind the three of them. Hadara recognized it as that of W'diri. "I never believed any of this dark wanderer nonsense and I think that you two are being foolish to worry so much about a simple thunderstorm!" W'diri said.

"We as a people haven't seen rain over the desert in over 4,000 years." Hadara snapped, her temper flaring. "And can you explain to me why the lightning is such a crimson red?"

W'diri scoffed. "It's unusual to have storms around here, who is to say they can't look unusual too?"

At that moment Hadara's staff appeared just inches from W'diri's neck. "Are you trying to get us all cursed?" Hadara growled. "Our fortunes already look bleak and you would bring more evil upon us with your words?" W'diri blinked. "Keep your mouth shut and don't make things worse than they already are!"

W'diri backed off and mumbled. After walking a few feet away, she turned to face them and spoke again. "You would bring down all our spirits with this talk of death and doom! Already we are living by a thread and would make it seem worse!" A sudden explosion sounded to the North that silenced W'diri before she could continue.

The Northern tower, which was looming on the horizon, trembled visibly. All the Gerudos in the village that were outside their huts stopped to look. Others in their huts poked their heads out to get a glimpse through the twilight. Not too far from the base of the Northern Tower, a massive oval shaped object was rising upwards in the air with a tremendous roar. Great blue circles shone blindingly on its back end as it slowly rose higher and higher. Its great black bulk menacingly turned to face the other end toward the dim sky. And with a great boom, it rocketed forward at an amazing speed up into the heavens. The shockwave from the last explosion washed over the village, knocking over those who stood and collapsing the more flimsy huts. A straw roof simply lifted off of one and flew several feet before rolling to the ground. The giant hulk that had caused all this became smaller and smaller in the sky. And on the Western, Southern, and Eastern horizons, more of these objects made their journeys into space. Only Indiru noticed how many there were. She poked Hadara and pointed at each of them as they disappeared into the sky.

After all the objects had all long faded and peace had returned, Hadara turned to chew W'diri out again, but she was nowhere to be seen. And Gerudos were now running around the village, some simply dazed and confused, others panicking with fear. Most of their people weren't as skeptical as W'diri was.

Hadara and the Blue Elder acted fast. They ran to the center of the square and stood on top of the small podium that always stood there.

"Silence!" Hadara yelled at the top of her voice. "Do not let fear cloud your judgment now! Do not scream and run like fools! Now is not the time for that!" The entire village turned deathly quiet once again.

"I know what these signs forebode," The Blue Elder continued as the Gerudos gathered next to the podium, "But it is not for any of us to truly see the future! We have seen some of the darkest days of this world, and we can live through this! If we pray to the Goddesses for safety we will be able to-" But the Blue Elder was cut off mid-sentence.

An ear splitting crack, and a bright flash of crimson filled the sky. A demonic bolt of red lightning arced through the sky, away from the clouds, and came down to strike the Blue Elder where she stood. She died instantly, one second a living being, a dried chunk of ash and carbon the next. The podium heaved up underneath them and burst into pieces, flinging Hadara away and turning what was left of the Blue Elder into a cloud of dust. Hadara tumbled to the stone of the square, her skin seared by the close proximity of the lightning, and pieces of stone fell and slashed her skin. A crater in the cobblestones was all that was left by the impact. As the full impact hit the crowd of Gerudos, screams and cries echoed and they all dispersed in a frenzy. Gerudos ran aimlessly, their minds driven to madness by fear and those of the Blue Tribe cried wails of grief at the loss of their Elder. Soon they had cleared the village and the square was practically empty and quiet. Hadara's vision was blurred, and she was half conscious on the stone from hitting her head. She didn't hear the soft footfalls of two Gerudos rushing up to aid her. Blackness swallowed her, leaving the growing black clouds as the last image she saw before falling into unconsciousness.

Fara and Indiru had almost been carried off with the frenzied Villagers when they had scattered and ran. They knew that Hadara was in trouble, and that they needed to reach her. They had been almost to the village borders when they managed to free themselves from the frightened rabble and run back to the square. Hadara was laying there unconscious, bleeding from several deep slashes on her arms and body. Blood oozed from a small split in the back of her head where she had hit the cobblestones. Fara quickly knelt down and opened a Red Potion. Indiru propped the Hadara's head up so that she would not choke on the potion while unconscious. Fara slowly tilted the magic drink down the Hadara's throat. A few seconds passed before she coughed and slowly returned to reality.

"Thank the Gods you're alive!" Fara said with great relief.

"Come on, you need to stand!" Indiru urged. "The same fate as my mother's awaits you if we do not move now!"

Hadara slowly stood on her stilly wobbly legs, there was still blood spattered where the cuts had been. She brushed herself off and looked into the eyes of her rescuers. Indiru looked as if she was struggling back tears, and Fara was holding a deluge of fear behind her eyes. Hadara had always been good at reading emotions through people's eyes.

Chapter XXXII

"**Our guests are at the door. Shall we let them in?"**

"**Of course. We must be hospitable, it is only proper for ones of such high caliber."**

"**I see. We will set the table and invite them to dine."**

"**Good. Make sure that today's feast is especially delicious, I want them to be ripe for the plucking when the harvester comes to call."**

"**I understand. Should we escort the shorter one out after dinner?"**

"**Oh yes, it will only make the meal that much more savory for the one we're truly looking for. We may end up filling him before bringing him up to meet the host."**

"**And what of their fellows, the parasites?"**

"**They have lived off of our lifeblood long enough; let us give them a new kind of meal this night. The great feast is almost prepared, and the tablecloth is spreading. I'm relying upon you to set out the silverware."**

"**I have already cleared our people from the table, now let us close the trap. The forks and knives are ready."**

"**All we need to do now is to spoon up the prize and take the final bite."**

A single, slow dripping noise was all that floated in the abyss; and feeling of cold stone and steel, and the sound of the slow dripping. Little orbs of water slowly colliding with damp steel. And two eyes opened in the dark to take in their surroundings. They saw a small square space, a steel floor and stone walls. A row of iron bars was barely visible in the gloom. And with no remembrance, the owner of these two eyes wondered how he had gotten to this place. He hardly remembered his own name, or if he was alone or not. He felt his strange suction cupped paws and suddenly he remembered that he was Pokemon, one named Mewtwo. As he slowly recovered from the shock in his mind, he felt cold steel pressing on his head. He reached a paw up and felt an unforgiving, steel brace that covered all of his head and most of his face. There were hose for his eyes and mouth, and it felt stifling to his mind and body. It extended down his neck and to his back, covering the small connection between his head and back. It ended down by his tail, where it dug into his flesh like some sort of parasite. Nowhere on it was a single crack or seam, and it was completely smooth where in transitioned into his body. No pain came from that spot either.

Suddenly gripped by fear and panic, Mewtwo remembered his purpose, the one it had taken him years to find, he needed to stop the Empire from destroying the world. He cried frantically and tried to teleport out of his cell. Suddenly, the machine on his head whirred to life. A light glowed red and it hummed slightly, and a streak of black light whizzed down from the section on his head back to where it merged with his body. There was no sign of the energy he had tried to use to teleport. He cried out in fear and tried again, but the machine busily stole the energy away again with a soft glow and hum. Mewtwo's panic grew to a desperate pitch, and he tried to grab onto the mechanism that was rendering him powerless. He tried to grip the smooth metal but his paws slid off like cloth on glass. He tried to find an edge where it touched his skin, but it was like a great edgeless dome. He cried and whimpered like a child as he scrambled hysterically to grip the collar on his head and back, and failed every time. When it was clear that removing the device was impossible, Mewtwo sat back, panting and whimpering in despair.

Mewtwo sat for a few minutes, wondering how and why he had gotten into this position. Had the world already been destroyed? Where was Kalana? Where the heck was he? He finally decided not to give up hope, and to hold onto the near impossibility that the world hadn't been destroyed yet. Besides, he was still alive, right? He stood up with new resolve and grasped the iron bars of his cell. They were sturdy and thick, and his weak arms couldn't budge them. A door was apparent, and there was a small input keypad where one could enter the code to unlock the door. The buttons were unusually large, in fact, they were large enough so that he, with his giant finger suction cups, could press just one at a time. With a normal pad, he would end up pressing 4 or 5 at once if he tried. But these buttons were almost 3 inches wide. It struck Mewtwo as extremely odd. He reached through the bars and felt the pad. It was cool and smooth with no markings on the buttons. He tried pushing one, and after a few seconds, the pad beeped softly.

Mewtwo started pushing sequences of buttons in randomly, trying hundreds of different combinations of increasing length, but still the pad would only beep once and the door would remain inert and immovable. After punching a combination with 15 values in and failing, he gave up and sat back in his cell again. He took the time to inspect his surroundings, hopeful to find a weakness or possibly even a hole in his cell. The back wall was made of solid, unrecognizable stone, as was the ceiling. The left and right walls were made of thick and sturdy steel, and so was the floor. The steel and stone seemed to meld together perfectly, as if the steel had been melted into the stone. The dripping water was appearing out of a hole in the stone the width of a pencil. The bars stood steadfast and the doorframe was welded well to the rest of the bars. The hallway outside the bars was steel as well, and completely dark except for an iridescent glow coming from a strip of small lights that were embedded in the stone ceiling. Mewtwo then noticed there was another cell across from his. He glanced into it and to his surprise, saw Kalana's unconscious form lying in it.

Mewtwo suddenly felt ten times better, it was good to know that Kalana was alright. She was facing away from him in her sleep, and the keypad on her cell glowed the same ghostly red that his did. He called up enough gumption to pierce the strangling silence with a crying attempt at rousing her.

"Kalana!" The word jabbed the silence deafeningly, but didn't last long in the close air. Kalana showed no signs of moving.

"Come on, wake up Kalana!" Mewtwo shouted louder than before. Still Kalana lied still on the steel floor.

Mewtwo reached his paws down into the large pool of water on the floor of his cell. He flicked the water across the hall, but only a scant few drops touched Kalana. No movement showed from her sleeping form. Mewtwo sighed in desperation, and then drew in a deep breath and let out a long, mighty scream. Kalana suddenly shuddered and breathed deeply, and Mewtwo's eyes glimmered with hope.

"Come on, that's it! Kalana, over here!" Mewtwo shouted.

Kalana slowly sat up, and shuddered violently for a few seconds. She turned to face Mewtwo with an expression that can only be described as extreme shock.

"How in the Evil King's name did we get here?" She said silently.

"I don't know, but we need to get out!" Mewtwo said desperately.

Kalana rubbed the back of her head and moaned. "Oh no…..how long have I been out? Are we too late? Are my people dead?" She said, her voice rising in extreme anxiety.

"Listen, I know as little as you do, but we need to hope for the best no matter how bad this looks! We need to find a way out of this!" Mewtwo said strongly.

Kalana nodded. "You've a voice of powerful reason my friend!" she replied. "Now, how-"

Kalana was cut off, thankfully not by a bolt of lightning, but by a deafening clang of a large bell.

The sound resonated through the stone and steel of her and Mewtwo's cells, and their clasped their ears in pain. As the sound slowly faded, the bell let out another clang that caused their heads to throb in pain. And after a third and equally loud toll the unseen bell fell silent. Mewtwo was about to wonder out loud where that had came from when a silent hissing sound of air pressure changing came from the far end of the hallway to his left. He stayed silent and strained to look around the corner, but the curvature of the hallway hid the sound. Kalana stood up to the bars and looked down the hallway. From her point of view, she could see much farther down the hall. She squinted into the darkness for a scant few moments and Mewtwo looked to her for her to tell him what she saw. There was a resounding silence for an eternal moment, and then as Kalana stared into the dark, her eyes slowly widened and her mouth dropped into a gape of sheer terror. She turned to Mewtwo, holding that fixed expression of surprise and horror, and Mewtwo's heart practically stopped. He didn't want to turn and look again, but he forced himself to.

Around the corner of the hall came two horribly familiar forms, floating in midair. Mewtwo's mind suddenly flashed back to his first and only tower raid with the Red Gerudos. It skipped past the maze of tunnels, the fights at the top of the tower, and stopped at the basement train station of the tower. The train pulled into the station, and after brief Gerudo-guard skirmishes, that nightmarish copy of him with the glowing red eyes floated off the train, mocking him and torturing the Gerudos. Back in reality, two identical black copies of Mewtwo floated down the corridor and stopped in front of his and Kalana's cells. They were wearing the same, demonic black armor Mewtwo has seen Giovanni holding in his nightmare, and their red eyes glowed through the dark visors.

Mewtwo recoiled back into his cell in horror. Right here in front of him were two more evil versions of himself, and one began punching a code onto the keypad of his cell. The other began punching a code on the door to Kalana's cell. They moved mechanically, not making a sound except the clicking of the keys on the pads. Mewtwo was too horrified to speak or move anymore, his body had frozen in dread. When the final button was pressed on the pad, the bars suddenly slid away into the floor with a soft whiz and the demonic copy began to step into the cell. Then, Mewtwo's body found the will to move again. Without his powers, Mewtwo could do nothing but lash out at this copy of himself with the strongest punch he could muster. He expected that the copies would be just as physically weak as he is. He found himself to be horribly wrong when the copy whipped up its paw and grabbed his arm before the punch could connect. It squeezed his arm tightly and began to twist, and Mewtwo cried out in pain. But the copy stopped before any bones broke. It tossed him to the floor powerfully with one stroke.

Mewtwo heard Kalana's scream as he hit the floor, and jumped up, getting ready to kick the copy with his more powerful legs. But before he could, his opponent used a powerful psychic attack to completely and totally paralyze him. He fell to the floor as stiff as a wooden plank. Kalana, who had been screaming continuingly, suddenly fell silent to this same paralysis. And before Mewtwo could think, he felt himself being lifted. A black psychic bubble formed around him and carried him out of the cell. From the way he was lying in this bubble, he could see Kalana frozen inside a similar bubble, being directed out of her cell by the other copy. He tried desperately to move, but all that he could move were his lung muscles. The rest of his body did not respond. All he could do is watch as he was lead down the hall, past a sliding pressure door, and through another cell block.

Doors quietly slid open and closed as Mewtwo and Kalana were carried past hundreds of empty cell blocks, and then up to a very large looking double sliding door. It slid open to reveal a small, cylindrical room. It was completely empty and dark save for another keypad on the far wall. Mewtwo, Kalana and their captors filled this little room and the double door slid shut behind then. The copy that was carrying Mewtwo reached a paw over and pressed three different keys, and suddenly Mewtwo felt the room begin to move. It accelerated upwards rapidly, and he realized that this was an elevator. He had rid one in the Pokemon world once, just passing time and having a bit of passing fun, but the situation he was in was so far from fun that the memory was almost lost on him.

Mewtwo didn't know how long they simply stood there in the elevator, going always upwards at tremendous speeds. Great pits of fear and despair now filled his stomach to the brim, and he would have vomited from horror if he wasn't paralyzed. He wondered if this was truly the way he would die, not by his own hand or natural causes, but by the hands of these demons that looked exactly like him. His sobbing was suppressed by the paralysis. And then, the movement in the room slowed and halted. The double sliding elevator doors slid open, and their captors carried them into another hallway. On his left side, Mewtwo saw another steel wall, but the right side had an all glass window-wall that caught Mewtwo's eye.

Out of that window he saw the desert of the world. He was filled with relief, the world hadn't been destroyed yet after all! He tried to shout with glee but his mouth didn't respond. The view from the window was many miles from the ground, and the plains below were darkened by the night and the layer of evil clouds. These clouds were now much closer and bigger in his view since they were so high up. The vicious red lightning lashed the sky like a web of maddened, jagged whips. The clouds now stretched far over the horizon, their border no longer visible. The flashes from the lightning illuminated the ground. The forest of the Deku Tree was in plain sight, and the red flashes reflected off of the leaves, creating a feeling of repressed rage in the foliage and the sky itself. And then, they walked past the point where the window ended.

Through many more overwhelmingly dark passages their captors took them, and Mewtwo's heart was filled with an increasingly powerful feeling of foreboding. As they turned yet another corner, a tall set of swinging doors showed itself. Their captors walked them up to these doors and they slowly opened by themselves. The room inside was pitch black, but then a blinding red light flooded down from the ceiling and illuminated the room. Instruments of torture were prominent everywhere; racks, cages, blades of varying sizes, and other indescribable devices. They were lead over to two opposite facing tables and made to lie on them. They were both strapped down to the opposing tables with sturdy leather bands. Suddenly, the paralysis wore off, and Mewtwo's mouth burst open, letting out a soulful cry.

"Why?" He screamed, "What are you going to do to us?"

But the two armored copies simply floated away, out of the doors and into the darkness. Mewtwo turned and looked at Kalana, who looked equally terrified. She then put on a look of grim determination and began to struggle underneath her bonds. The bands were nearly three quarters of an inch thick, and attached to the table well. Mewtwo tried one last time to charge a psychic attack; maybe he could cut the bonds with it. But that mechanical monstrosity on his head and back simply lit up and hummed, and nothing became of his attempts. He tried to wriggle his skinny arms out of the straps, but they had been tightened to his wrist width.

And out of the darkness beyond the doors, a new, identical form floated in. It was another of the demonic copies of Mewtwo, but this one wore no armor, and its body was covered in wide scars. It floated up to the two horrified prisoners with a sinister, wide grin on its face.

"Welcome, my friends, to the last place either of you will ever see."

Chapter XXXIII

"**Do things proceed as planned?"**

"**We will begin the breaking soon milord. I plan on putting on my best."**

"**Do not underestimate the willpower of our guest. We may have stripped him bare, but his spirit is still potent. Remember our connections."**

"**Of course. I know the possible consequences involved in this undertaking. I have made sure that my subordinates know of the circumstances."**

"**So the cycle is coming full circle. I expect great things from you, Firetongue."**

"**I understand sir. Victory is now but inches away."**

"**Even so, the one second we let out guard down before victory, will be the second that victory manages to escape our net like a cosmic butterfly. I want this insect in my hand personally so that I may crush it."**

"However did it come to this?" Mewtwo said in his mind. Slowly and painfully, cold steel clamps inserted themselves under his eyelids and pried them open. The unwanted picture of the torture room met his unwilling eyes once more, and he saw that demonic version of himself standing over him, holding what looked to be an energy whip. It smiled malevolently at him and pointed over to the table where Kalana had been strapped down.

"Now now now, we can't be taking a nap right this moment, It's almost show time!" It hissed at him in a psychic voice.

"What….what are you going to do?" Mewtwo shouted suddenly.

"Oh, once you find out, you'll wish you could close those eyes of yours, but I'm afraid that wouldn't be…productive. We need this session to be productive, so I need to effect a proficient reaction from you. And to do that, I can't have another outburst like that." The copy said. And suddenly, another band snaked across Mewtwo's face, binding his mouth shut. Without his mouth and his powers, Mewtwo was totally mute.

"I am the best of my trade, and I am proud of it. Tonight I'll be giving you a demonstration of my skills. Your friend here thinks that she knows the definition of pain. How little she knows that her idea of it is not even a pale shadow of what true pain really is." And finishing this sentence, the villainous demon copy opened its mouth in a wide gaping laugh. Jagged, uneven rows of razor fangs filled its mouth, and a streak of fire existed in the stead of its tongue. This fire jumped outwards, licking the air menacingly as it completed the hollow sounding laugh. "I am Firetongue, personal assistant to the Emperor himself, and he has asked me to give you both his fondest welcomes."

Firetongue floated swiftly floated over to the table where Kalana was restrained and looked down at her. The energy whip in his left hand glimmered and flickered with electricity. He raised it over his head and Kalana's eyes widened in fear as he held it there to savor the moment.

"I would ask you to say "Cheese" for your friend over there, but that would hardly be appropriate would it?" Firetongue said. Kalana saw the whip come down, and she tried to close her eyes, but the little steel clamps under her eyelids prevented it.

The lashes came quickly and violently, and the smell of burnt flash soon wafted into the air as the energy whip burned black streaks into Kalana's torso. No blood was able to escape from the blackened wounds, but the pain replaced it in spades. Kalana would have screamed, but her mouth was bound just like Mewtwo's. She writhed in agony under the searing heat of the fierce whip as it happily danced over her body under Firetongue's powerful hand. Mewtwo cried in emotional pain every time the whip landed on Kalana, feeling her pain in his mind. Every stroke made his own body cringe and the tears welled up in his bound eyes. Kalana's eyes seemed to scream for savior or death to come upon her now, and Mewtwo desperately wanted to give her either one. It didn't matter which to Mewtwo, as long as her suffering was ended.

And with as much deliberateness as he had started the whipping, Firetongue stopped. Kalana's body was almost completely covered with burns. She was close to passing out from shock. Her head lolled back as her body began to overload with the heat. Firetongue grinned and lowered the whip. He reached out his other paw, the black fur glistening in the red illumination of the room. A short burst of black psychic energy flowed from his paw into Kalana's body, and her burns slowly receded and disappeared. She was completely healed only after a scant few seconds. He forced her mind to complete consciousness with psychic intrusion, and inserted a small message into her mind via his own telepathy.

"I bet you're wondering why it is that I healed you?" He said to her. Her mind replied with sheer hatred toward him. He almost let himself chuckle and continued, this time to both her and Mewtwo. "It wouldn't be very productive to let you die now, would it? Why should I, when I can milk as many more rounds out of you as I desired? All I need to do is heal you before you tumble over death's brink and then bring you back to that same brink once more."

Firetongue then walked over to a shelf of other different items and deactivated the energy whip. The glowing strands disappeared, leaving nothing but a handle. He placed it onto the shelf and randomly selected another device. He lifted a medium sized titanium knife out of the selection and walked back to Kalana's table.

"Ready for round 2? No? Too bad!" He cackled, and stabbed the knife into Kalana's arm. This time the blood flowed just as readily as Mewtwo's tears.

With these words and each cut and stab, Mewtwo felt a growing new emotion under his despair. The familiar red haze began to creep into his vision as uncontrolled rage for Firetongue boiled upward through his mind. If he hadn't been gagged, he would be snarling in rage at this vile impersonator that was slowly bleeding Kalana with a rusty knife. He was losing control of himself, and he began to struggle and pull against his harnesses. He pulled until he felt the bones in his wrists began to crack. He felt the joints in his hips begin to dislocate, but his mind was absorbed with hatred. All he cared about doing was stabbing Firetongue through the heart with the same knife Kalana was suffering under. The machine attached to him hummed to life as it slowly blocked and absorbed an enormous amount of psychic energy that was boiling from Mewtwo's mind. Firetongue turned to him sand smiled that same malevolent grin.

"Good, get angry. Let it absorb you. That's what all of us want." Firetongue said. He brought his bloody paw up and his tongue of fire licked the blood off of his black fur. "It's only bringing us closer to our goal."

Suddenly, the mouth harness holding back the tidal wave of Mewtwo's rage snapped. "I will kill you!" he howled. "I will wear your intestines around my neck and I will feed your head to the sandworms of the desert! I will grind your eyes into gelatin and break every one of your bones into thousands of pieces!"

"That would make you happy, wouldn't it?" Firetongue asked, walking up to Mewtwo, still holding the knife. "Blood and death fascinate you, don't they?"

"Yours will be the most satisfying in my or any other world!" Mewtwo snarled. Suddenly, the band binding his left wrist fell loose on its own accord.

"Let me see you kill. Don't hold back. Do everything to me that you said and more." Firetongue said, and held the handle of the knife out to Mewtwo.

Mewtwo snatched the knife and did all his anger would allow him to do. He pulled back and lobbed the knife at Firetongue as hard as he could. The bloody blade spun through the air, fatally on target for Firetongue's head.

"Perfect." Firetongue whispered, and then disappeared. He had teleported out of the knife's path. The dagger flew right past, across the room, and landed blade first in Kalana's stomach.

In a fraction of a second, all the red-vision rage evaporated from Mewtwo's mind. His eyes grew in shock, horror, and grief. Kalana gasped and sputtered in pain and shock. Blood trickled down from her mouth and out from under the binding that held her.

Firetongue reappeared next to Kalana's side, smiling even wider than before. "As my brother said when you first met him, Surprise!" He cackled. "And I don't think there's a need to heal her this time, I'd say this run was productive enough!"

Kalana felt nothing as the last of her life slipped away from her. All that was left in her body was a stifling cold. She saw the terror in Mewtwo's eyes at what he had done, and she wanted to speak to him, to tell him that it wasn't his fault. She wanted to tell him that she forgave him. But the band over her mouth kept her last words from his ears. The coldness finally overcame her and she slipped away into oblivion.

"Wow, she didn't hang on long!" Firetongue laughed. He pulled the knife out of Kalana's inert body and walked over to the now traumatized Mewtwo. "Your aim was a lot better than I had expected! I was worrying that you might hit her somewhere that would be less painful, or maybe make her death a lot quicker, but you were right on the mark!" He hooted with vile laughter.

Four words echoed through Mewtwo's mind as Firetongue stood there, gloating over his perfectly executed ruse. "What have I done?" He asked himself over and over again. His last shreds of friendship, hope, and happiness were now gone. He realized this, and the sorrow was pushed to the back of his mind. The rage roared back up into him again, hundreds of times more powerful than before.

"And with your weak arms too!" Firetongue continued, "I thought the dagger wouldn't even make it all the way across to her table, but I guess I was wrong! Now, how-"

Firetongue was cut off mid-sentence when Mewtwo suddenly climbed off of the table in front of him. "I should have figured you'd free yourself given that I would unbind your arm! So what are you going to do, try to punch me like you did the centurions?" Firetongue said mockingly. He didn't even notice that the energy collar on Mewtwo's head was starting to glow and buzz violently as Mewtwo's energy overloaded the device.

Mewtwo acted out of sheer force of anger and lunged at Firetongue with all his weight. He threw the most powerful kick his body could muster. He was halted mid-air in an instant by a psychic barrier that Firetongue erected between them. The barrier then curved around his body to form another inescapable psychic capsule.

"To think that our connections run so deeply, you're pathetic!" Firetongue said, the humor gone from his voice. "I would kill you within an instant if you weren't bound to us by one fate."

This mysterious monologue was lost to Mewtwo, who was now more absorbed in rage than he had ever been in his life. And as Firetongue stared into his eyes with those crimson eyes, the psychic collar on his head finally overloaded and gave out.

What followed next was an indescribable wave of fury that blasted out from Mewtwo's mind. The tables, torture devices, and Firetongue, were all vaporized in an instant. The steel walls shuddered and cracked and the double doors were blown off of their hinges, where they proceeded to blow a hole through the next wall like tissue paper. The entire room bent into a glowing red sphere of molten metal. And when the energy storm disappeared and the walls cooled and hardened, Mewtwo fell to the deformed floor and sobbed. He sobbed until his dry eyes could produce no more tears and his lungs screamed from lack of air. The empty feeling that he usually got after every rage came again, just as gigantic and overwhelming as the rage had been. Without Kalana, he had no-one left here with him, alone in the tower and once again alone in life. His soul felt like it would implode on itself from sheer despair. He cried until he was so tired that he could no more than whimper. And as he sat there on his knees, oblivious to reality, he didn't notice the room shift around him as he was teleported through the tower. When he raised his head to look around, he found himself not inside what remained of the torture room, but inside a great dark hall. And on the far end of the hall, enshrouded in gloom, floated two great red, piercing eyes; the horrid, all seeing eyes of the Empire.

Chapter XXXIV

"_We're nearly too late, we need to get down there right now, Captain."_

"_I'm sorry sir, but if we accelerate past our current rate, the Dark Ones will detect our approach. And besides, the reactors are already at 94, we would not gain much if we maxed them out."_

"_I see. Do what you can do captain. If we should not arrive in time however, the time-space continuum could be irreparably damaged, and it would mean our end."_

"_I know the consequences of failure, and what they are planning on the shriveled little planet. But if our ships were to push the slipstream any farther, we could risk failure before even arriving."_

"_I understand this captain. And I know that there are no other safe options when traveling in slipstream, but sometimes one must think through the situation instead of around it. Do you understand me?"_

"_What are you implying?"_

"_I understand there has never been research on the effects of collective energy use during a slip-jump, and we may end up doing one of the first tests of this variation."_

"_Are you saying we should attempt a mid-jump teleportation, sir? With all due respect, that's ridiculous! We could end up trapped in an interdimensional limbo for eternity! The basics of teleportation effects have showed the viability of dimension jumping during normal space, but who knows what would happen when we tried to open a dimensional rip inside a dimensional rip? The slipstream could implode, crushing us all!"_

"_As it stands Captain, we are already going to meet oblivion before we could make it to Hypalia. The Dark Ones have anticipated our actions and moved ahead their planetary Doomsday plan by many days. If we don't find a way to get to Hypalia sooner, then they will succeed in wiping us out before we even exist. And you know the Prime Objective of this mission. We are to stop the Separation before it can happen. It may mean our end, but it will also mean the end of the Dark Ones. There was never any need for so many universes to be thrown into chaos by our race's actions, and if we can stop the Separation, we will have ended thousands of years worth of fighting before it even started."_

"…_I see. You know that I highly disapprove of this stunt, but you will have my potency within the Collective Energy for as long as we live, even if it means death."_

Crimson fury danced in the sky, accompanied by gleefully malicious cracks and rumbles across the land. Over the Hellishly lit Desert sands three Gerudos desperately flew to the East. Hadara, Indiru and Fara were pooling their collect magic essence to fly through the air at an extreme speed, deeper and deeper East. Indiru directed them to their goal, the safety that the Spirit Temple would award them from the inbound waves of death. The sky was completely dark, it was nearly midnight and the almost invisible clouds were outlined by the rapid successions of lightning. They flew for untold miles, covering in hours distances that Mewtwo and Kalana had taken almost two days to cross. It was as their last bit of magic wore out when the unfamiliar form of the Temple Tower's backside climbed over the horizon and rushed up towards them. They landed only a few feet from the Temple's stone square.

Hadara's eyes widened. She had seen many drawings and paintings of the Spirit Temple's outer statue on ancient scrolls. The Desert Goddess's hands reached outwards toward the violent sky, as if begging the storm to cease. She lowered her head and prayed the oldest and most sacred of the Gerudo prayers in the Ancient Dialect of Hylian. She and Kalana were the only ones in the Red Tribe who understood and spoke the much older, Ancient Dialect. The version that the Villagers spoke was modernized, almost completely different from the Ancient Dialect.

As Hadara knelt in front the Temple, praying in the Ancient Dialect, Indiru and Fara knelt next to her and prayed in Modern Hylian. As they begged for mercy and protection, a familiar red light pierced their eyelids. Hadara opened her eyes to see a crimson lightning bolt, maybe a foot and a half from her face, pointing between her eyes. It hung in midair for only a fraction of a second, and then violently arced back upwards in a jagged path that resembled a deflection. Indiru and Fara had been knocked backwards by the heat, flash, and surprise, but Hadara continued praying until the last syllable was spoken.

"Now, quickly! Get inside the temple to safety!" Hadara shouted, jumping up and grabbing Indiru and Fara by the arms. They rushed inside the doorway and sighed with relief.

"So what now?" Fara asked, leaning on the stone wall and looking out into the red illuminated night.

"All that's left to do now is watch and wait. We will surely know if Mewtwo succeeds or not soon. If he does, then these sinister clouds will dissipate and the world will heal into its old state of being before the Empire came." Indiru replied. "And if he should fail, then we will die a very fast, but painful death."

"But you said we would be safe here!" Fara shouted, her stress now apparent.

"I said we would be safe from the lightning here. It cannot move through the sacred stone of the Temple. But if the Armageddon should come after all, thick stone walls will not protect us from the Hellstorm that would ensue. The Red Elder knows." Indiru replied.

"_And then the Earth would open up and swallow whoever remained._" Hadara repeated, the memory of her mother's prophecy suddenly leaping out again.

Fara stuttered, and slumped to the Temple's stone floor. She mumbled, on the verge of sobbing with fear. Hadara felt a wave of sympathy wash over her. Normally, the Medicine Woman was one of the Gerudo village's strongest minded members. She would need to be, sometimes injuries would be ugly enough to cause any other villager to vomit in repulse. The fact that Fara was breaking down worried her dearly. Her soul went out to all her fellow Tribeswomen who had disappeared into the desert in panic not three hours ago. Most likely, many of them would be dead already since they had no protection from the vicious lightning above.

Finally, the pressure was too much to bear for Indiru. She had trained herself to ignore emotions ever since she had begun seeing premonitions as a child just entering the human equivalent of being 12 years old. She had told herself that all good things never lasted, and her ability was a sign that she would need to be above feelings. Now however, her mother had died just as she had seen it many months ahead of time, and it was too much for her. She only really noticed it when a single tear rolled down her left cheek, and before she could stop it, she was suddenly sobbing into her hands as she sat on the stone of the Temple floor.

Hadara had only known Indiru since they had arrived for this trading festival, but it was long enough for the sight of tears on her face to be even more uncomforting. The two strongest pillars she had known were crumbling as she sat there, waiting. She felt her own hundreds of years of emotional training shake like a short Earthquake under her, threatening to give way and make her cry just like Indiru. But she needed to be a stable pillar to these two, it was the last strength they would have left to cling to. If Hadara broke down now, they would all three go mad. Already she could see the dead scattered across the sands, slowly being absorbed by the unforgiving waste of the desert. She almost lost control of herself when a gentle draft came up out of the Depths of the Temple behind her and passed across all three of them like the tendrils of an unseen silhouette.

Fara bolted upwards, her tension powering her like a coiled spring.

"What in the Gods' name was that?" She almost barked.

Indiru lifted her tear stained face from her hands and paused her crying to look up into the Temple's main hall. She had dreamed about this place before, but never in great detail. And before her eyes, a ghostly figure stood at the top of the steps, staring down into her eyes. The figure was one Indiru had seen in her dreams too many times to count; the first Gerudo Elder, Nabooru. Nabooru's spirit was looking down her with a sad, wistful look. And she also looked happy at the same time. Within a fraction of a second she was gone, but Indiru had heard a message.

"_Do not worry, he will succeed._"

Hadara turned and looked to see where the draft had come from, but the Temple's hall was empty. Fara was still on coiled springs, ready to bolt out into the lightning if danger should come. And Hadara noticed that Indiru had stopped crying. She was just sitting there, staring into the Temple's Hall. Hadara looked into the hall again, following Indiru's gaze, but saw nothing. When she turned to look at Indiru again, she suddenly smiled.

"We are going to be alright." Indiru whispered.

"How do you know that? Did you have another vision?" Fara asked excitedly.

"No. Nabooru, whose spirit has been resting here for many thousands of years, was finally able to rest. She only wanted to see my face again before leaving this plane, and to tell me that everything's going to be alright."

Hadara did a double take to the Hall and then Indiru, and stuttered in confusion. "How is that possible?"

"The dogs of war may have been unleashed, ready to deliver oblivion to us all, but the dead tell no lies."

Chapter XXXV

"Weeks of waiting, many miles of walking, and Kalana's death….it all comes down to this." Mewtwo thought to himself, standing up and facing the dark alcove at the end of the hall.

The two glowing red eyes pierced the darkness like twin knives. They stabbed at Mewtwo, examining his every inch and the darkest recesses of his soul. Mewtwo did not let them affect him. Now was the time to stand, there was no backing down. He pulled in a deep breath and walked up to the alcove. His fear was gone, and the sorrow of Kalana's death had grown into something more, strength of will and thirst for revenge. He stopped just a few feet from the darkened throne, holding an energy sword.

"Show yourself now you coward! I've had enough of your little copies of me and now you shall fight me face to face!" Mewtwo shouted, pointing his energy sword at the two eyes.

"I will face you," A familiar dark voice replied, "But I'm afraid you haven't had enough of many things yet this night."

Suddenly, out of the darkness, the Emperor emerged from his dark throne. As the red light came down, Mewtwo saw that it was indeed another dark copy of himself, but with several differences. From the tips of all four of his paws, jagged yellow claws curved outward and ended in prongs. The normally flat ended horns curved upward and ended in sharp spikes. And from his back, a pair of fleshy, sinister bat winds opened up almost seven feet wide. Spikes grew from the wingtips. His eyes glowed violent crimson and his grin revealed jaws not all unlike Firetongue's, lacking the fiery tongue.

"Wha? Who are you? How is this possible?" Mewtwo stammered.

The Emperor landed in front of him, his wings gently folding behind him. "I have many names and none. I am known through many worlds and Galaxies as the Dark One, but you may call me Darkest."

"I don't care who you are now, or how this is possible, but I'm going to end everything now!" Mewtwo said, concentrating his power, and his energy sword doubled in potency. He swung as hard as he could for Darkest's head. Darkest smirked, and raised a psychic shield. The sword bounced off harmlessly.

"You're not letting me finish." Darkest said. "You wouldn't want to miss out on the story I'm about to tell you, would you?"

Mewtwo roared in anger and threw a gigantic psychic attack at Darkest. Darkest reflected it like a fly and paralyzed Mewtwo with a psychic jolt.

"Be calm for a moment, sit and listen. I can sense the confusion in your mind, allow me to quell it." Darkest said.

"You treat me like a valued guest after forcing me through one of the harshest mental tortures your friend could create! What is it you would force me to know now?" Mewtwo shouted telepathically at Darkest.

"Only the info which will help me attain the goal I wish to reach my friend. You will understand soon enough. Now then, you know vaguely about the spiritual sides of light and dark, am I correct?" Darkest asked. Mewtwo spurned him in defiance.

"My we're a strong soul aren't we? It's only proving what I'm about to say. You know how every side of nature has a dark and light side. It's like one of those monetary coins back on Earth; it's not complete unless it had both sides. Well, seven thousand years ago to this day, you tampered with this balance. After witnessing a tragedy of horrendous proportions, billions dead, you believed the guilt was on your hands. Your emotions tore you up past the point of mental insanity. You were so torn by the darkness inside you that with one mighty cry of sorrow, you split your physical and spiritual essence in two. What emerged from this rift was your two inner selves, your good, lighter side, and yours truly. You thought you were doing good by purging yourself of darkness, but you didn't know then that you were only just getting the real party started." Darkest said, flashing his jagged fanged smile.

"Your lighter side and I began our eternal battle almost immediately. Endowed with equal psychic powers and knowledge not unlike the original, we were evenly matched. We dueled with our powers for hours, until it was clear that neither would win. I managed to flee to safety in order to hatch my new plans for conquest and destruction of all the worlds I would see and touch. And I got my biggest idea from our collective past, the man known as Giovanni. His brilliant cloning technology was the key to propagating myself. I disguised myself for the time being and hired some fools to build a small laboratory for me. I paid them with platinum that I could easily chemically generate using my abilities. After the lab was completed I first experienced the rush of glee that came from warm blood on my hands, I stabbed them to death so that my location could remain a secret. Then I began cloning myself. With each new copy came an equivalent of doubling my power. Soon I had a brigade of myself and was ready to search out my better half."

"Even now to this day, we are still bound together in mind, Lightest and I. And he used it to his advantage to see my strategy ahead of time. There was only one way for him to win against me as well, he would need to copy my tactics and build his own lab. Our forces met in battle for the first time and our duel repeated itself. We were equally matched again in power, and once again I retreated. Events have repeated themselves like this for many thousands of years, only the scale continually grows. We have developed advanced fleets of starships armed to the teeth, and have both been pushing and pulling at each other's empires for thousands of years. My joy in this life has been to move my ships into new dimensions and to find worlds rich in resources and latent energy to harvest clean. After sucking planets dry, I then do what I love to do most, murder every single Inhabitant that survived the harvest."

With Darkest's words, the ceiling of the throne room suddenly slid open, and the crimson flashing clouds loomed close to them. They were standing on the very top of the tower, and the four spike-esque spires jutted upwards into the clouds. Around the spires, the clouds had receded, and inside this clear circular space, a monstrously large orb of black energy hung in the air. More and more energy was siphoning out of the spires into this orb, and it was growing slowly but surely. Its diameter was almost two-thirds of a mile in size, and it pulsed, almost ready to burst forward onto the world.

"This is the beginning of this world's end, Mewtwo. The final stages of the Darkness wave that will wipe this planet clean of life before I implode it like a black hole. And this is by what your scumbag Gerudo friends will all die painful deaths. As soon as it has accumulated enough energy, I will send it forward into the world and watch with glee as what few survivors roast alive."

Mewtwo was speechless as he saw Darkest holding out his arms in admiration of the Doomsday energy.

"Now, you may ask how this is possible. It is very odd to see your future self in the same time period as you isn't it? Well unfortunately, my war with Lightest has grown to a point where all the energy involved has caused some minor distortions within the dimensional continuum. You see, the spaces between dimensions do not exactly obey the laws of time to the letter. In some areas between high energy distortions, sometimes time is bent. Initially, when you left your own dimension, you experienced one of these distortions, caused by my towers. The singularity twisted time between your period and mine, depositing you seven thousand years in the future. You were supposed to have traveled through the dimensional tunnel many more hours without this kind of incident, to a war torn universe much farther away. There the disaster would take place and then your separation. Then I would be born to build my Empire and take this world. It's a rather strange paradox within the continuum, but so far I'm still here, so that means a separation will still take place."

Mewtwo suddenly grinned deviously. "But what if it won't?" He asked Darkest. "I now know never to do anything of the like in the future, even if I experience a disaster like that! And you will never come to exist!"

"You see, that's where I come in." Darkest said, glaring at Mewtwo. "It's another paradox for me to be responsible for my own creation, so I've been trying to induce the separation indirectly for months now. I've sent many disasters to you and your friends, trying to stress you emotionally enough to make you separate. I sent many sandworms, troops to attack your villages, and even an enslaved Gerudo, but something has been interfering with my attempts. I had to send you messages in your sleep to compel you to come to me. I knew that I could not affect you from a distance, so I had to take a risk by bringing you here. My last attempt was the mental torture that my assistant put you through. I took many precautions and made many safeguards to make sure that you would separate, but as usual, something interfered. Normally, anyone would have broken under that kind of emotional strain, but you have resisted. I'm still wondering how."

Mewtwo remembered Ai's words, "No matter what happens, embrace yourself, or all shall be lost." He smirked.

"If you're me, you'll remember a small girl with green hair and soothing voice. It was when we were children, and she spoke to us, trying to tell us how life is wonderful."

"What are you talking about?" Darkest snarled, his wings flaring and claws extending. The lightning filled sky pulsed with energy.

"The scientists had to wipe our memory, and we forgot until now. And one thing happened due to your little distortions, she came back to me in my sleep and gave me an important message, to accept myself no matter what happens. But your twisted continuum never had such a message, and that is the only reason you exist." Mewtwo said in a snide tone.

"Enough!" Darkness shouted. "Even if I have to create an even more unstable paradox by splitting you myself, I will do anything to ensure my own survival!"

A wave of powerful dark energy jolted Mewtwo, causing his body to suddenly jerk as stiff as a board. The dark, lightning filled sky began to blur and shift in his vision. A horrific tearing sound filled his head and he felt his body began to rip. Pain filled every nerve in his body and his mind began to feel like it was dividing. He began seeing double and his mind began to feel like two separate entities. But before the process could proceed past a permanent part, a sudden flash of light filled the sky. Mewtwo's mind was too much incapacitated from being half split to see it, but four glowing white starships streaked out of the clouds, firing bolts of bright blue energy.

"Noooooo!" Darkest bellowed, and raised his psychic shield. The bolts of bright blue plasma struck it with astounding force, and a small shockwave blasted outward from the impact. Darkest's shield held the blasts for only a few seconds, it slowly bent inward from the superheated gouts of energy. Together with the collective energy of his minions, Darkest could have easily reflected these projectiles, but he had evacuated almost all of them off of the planet for the Doomsday. What few centurions left in the tower sent their psychic energy to aid him, but it wasn't enough to hold one shield against almost 20 gouts of superheated energy. Darkest was forced to teleport away.

The four medium sized ships slowed and circled around the tower's peak. With darkest temporarily gone and his ships still flying away from the planet, they were unopposed. Their hulls glowed a brilliant reflective white and great charges of blue light glowed on the weapons turrets across their lateral lines. The plasma bolts achieved maximum charge and streaked outward into the sky. The blue boiling plasma arced upward into the clouds, screaming towards the unholy orb of dark energy that was collecting above the tower. They impacted the Doomsday energy and its surface twisted and distorted. It only held its integrity for a few seconds before the surface shattered and the energy exploded outward, a great and catastrophic explosion filled the flashing expanse of sky. The shockwave pushed the clouds like ripples in water, and the lightning suddenly stopped as the deafening explosion overwhelmed all else. The ships were knocked backwards and roiled belly up as the shockwave passed, but quickly righted themselves. And the tower on which a disoriented Mewtwo laid shook to its foundations.

As the shockwave spread across the heavens and the once violent clouds fell dormant, the four frigate sized ships descended down to the tip of the tower. Their engines hummed quietly as they hovered next to the tower's tip. Slowly, panels slid open and ramps extended from the gleaming hulls to touch down on the dark steel of the tower. A bright white light shone out of the door in the ship's side, and from the light strode what appeared to be another copy of Mewtwo's form. But he was far from sinister. His fur was pure white, and his tail a shade of light blue. His eyes were a brilliant deep blue, and they stared down at the still half split original Mewtwo with compassion.

"Help m-me.." One side of Mewtwo whimpered. "Get away scum!" The other side snarled. "No, help me!" the other side cried.

"Be whole." The light one said, and raised his arm. White energy glowed from his arm.

But as these words were said, a bolt of dark power screamed up through the floor, shattering the steel under the Light one's feet. He was thrown into the air, his skin burned and lacerated. Darkest burst up through the floor inside a psychic shield.

"Do not interfere with this Lightest!" Darkest roared, his eyes glowing scarlet. "This is destiny!"

"I will not let your chaos be unleashed on the universe! I will prevent it from happening!" Lightest cried.

Darkest screamed in rage and charged at Lightest, creating a huge, jagged, pronged sword of black energy. Lightest powered up his shield and formed two glowing blue spheres of energy. They met in flash of opposite energies above the now silent tips of the tower's spire. Lightest caught Darkest's sword between his two shields and shoved him back with a strong Psywave. Darkest grunted as he was thrown through the air and righted himself. He formed eight massive globes of black energy, which erupted forward in massive beams of darkness. Lightest's shield caught them and held them for a second before they curved away into the sky.

"You're at a disadvantage Darkest! You've only got a few soldiers to send you collective energy, whereas I've got the crew from four of my ships!" Lightest said, forming two smooth energy swords.

"All I need to do is stall for enough time until my own ships come to back me up!" Darkest rebuked. "They're on their way now!"

"It will be over by then," Lightest said, "I don't plan on letting you escape!"

The four shining starships then burst to life and flew a few meters away from the tower's tip. A bright fluorescent white energy shield extended from their hulls and encircled the tower. The energy rippled like water and formed a perfect sphere around the entire tower.

"We must re-merge or die!" Lightest cried, charging at Darkest with the two energy swords. Darkest reformed his black saber and caught the blades. What ensued was a furious dance of death. The three blades clashed in bright flashes of pure energy, and they parried, dodged and swung with phenomenal speed. Lightest caught Darkest in the foot with a mighty blow, slicing a steaming gash up his leg. Darkest screamed and fell backwards holding his leg in agony. Lightest pressed the assault and threw his two sabers at Darkest with incredible force. One missed while the other dug into Darkest's arm. Lightest the charged down at him with both his arms absorbed in light energy. He delivered multiple, devastating punches to all of Darkest's body. The energy surrounding his hands burnt great scars in Darkest's already black flesh. Darkest cried in rage and threw a great psywave in counter, knocking Lightest back several feet and burning a gash across his body. He then followed up with multiple beams of black energy, spewing them out of his hands. The beams curved randomly inside the containment bubble and then all arced toward the still shocked form of Lightest. Two of them struck home, burning holes through Lightest's leg. Lightest brought his shield back up to block the others before they could impact. He then righted himself again and pumped more energy into another attack. A massive orb of blue energy formed over his head, and electrical energy hummed in the air. And before Darkest could react, thousands of tiny blue bolts poured out of this orb, screaming straight towards him. They filled the air, and he raised his shield before they could reach him. They pounded on his shields continuously, slowly chipping away its integrity, bending his shield inward further and further. Hundreds of them spent themselves like this until his shield gave way and the five remaining landed on his body, creating great steaming concussions in his flesh. He fell limp, rocketing down and smashing on the steel floor of the tower's tip.

"This war ends now!" Lightest yelled, and flew down at Darkest with a great blue energy claymore.

Before the sword could reach its final destination, a great wave of energy flew up out of Darkest, knocking him backwards through the air. Darkest slowly stood, his wounds shrinking as he used his recover ability.

"It's far from ending!" Darkest boomed. "This world's power is becoming my own!"

Darkest abruptly held his hands up to the sky and three glowing circles materialized in his hands. They formed into three glowing Medallions, adorned with the Hylian symbols for "Shadow" "Fire" and "Water.

"There was a reason I captured this planet! Ancient powers neither of us could predict laid here. I could not collect all of them, but with these three I can balance out your little advantage and wait it out before my forces arrive!"

Darkest, now fully restored, charged anew at Lightest. Lightest had little time to react. He had recovered himself as well, but the speed that the Medallions were affording to Darkest was greater than his own. Darkest formed five large fireballs and lobbed them at Lightest. Lightest ducked to the side only to be struck in the back by two scalding hot balls of water. The skin on his back screamed and peeled. He grunted and turned to the fast approaching form, of Darkest. He threw thee massive psywaves at once, each with enough force to split a planet. Darkest's shield glowed a brilliant blue, red and black as it took the impact with little damage. And before he could raise his shield, Lightest felt Darkest's energy blade slice through the skin of his hip. Lightest saw an opportunity, and concentrated a great amount of energy into his hands, sending a beam of energy into Darkest's stomach. Darkest gasped in shock as his torso was almost completely gutted. He fell in free fall, but caught himself before he could hit the tower again. He used the power of the Medallions to use his recover ability twice as fast, and the hole in his stomach disappeared. He charged back up at Lightest, and the fighting began again.

The muffled sound of explosions filled the dark halls of the tower as a lone Gerudo ran up the steps as fast as she could. This particular Gerudo had been following Mewtwo for many days now, right up to the tower and inside. The Tiara shaped scar on her forehead burned as she climbed the steps. She carried a small knapsack filled with three treasures. She had watched as the Imperial soldiers had taken Mewtwo prisoner and stolen the Medallions from him. She realized that her ways were wrong as soon as they took him prisoner and implanted that machine on his back. And after the soldiers had taken him and Kalana up to the torture room, they had boarded small shuttles to leave the planet. It was easy pickings for her to retrieve the Spirit and Forest Medallions, along with the Light Arrows that Kalana had been carrying. She scoffed at the ineptitude and lack of caution that the Imperials were showing towards such powerful artifacts. And in the tunnels below the tower, in the deepest recesses of the catacombs which none of their troops ever wandered, an even greater power was hidden. She now carried all these in her knapsack as she ascended the last few steps up to the tower's peak. She knew this place well, they had tortured her here as well.

Lightest fell and hit the top of the tower with a rib crunching thud. His body was mangled and deformed from the punishment that Darkest was dealing out. He had no other ships with his escort, and Darkest's fleet would be arriving soon to back him up even further. He healed himself again and screamed aloud as Darkest's swords stabbed into his back.

Darkest leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Not quite so fun to be on the other end of the sword, is it?"

"We've repeated these battles many times before, you know that we're quite used to this pain." Lightest replied.

Darkest pulled the swords out of Lightest's back, and stood over him.

"This isn't one of our regular battles though, this is going to be the one that ends this war. I'm not going to say who is going to win however, I think it is quite obvious." Darkest gloated.

Unexpectedly, Mewtwo, the original, stood at his feet. His eyes glowed with merciless rage. He faced Darkest with two of his own energy blades. Darkest seemed taken aback for a moment, and then laughed.

"I figured that being half split would keep you incapacitated!" He said, guffawing evilly. "You must have reformed yourself! Now what are you going to do? I have your lighter side on death's door and three medallions in my possession!"

Mewtwo didn't show any emotion other than rage as he spoke.

"Me? No, I'm not going to do anything. They are." He said, gesturing to the four frigates still circling the tower. The energy shield encircling the tower shimmered and faded so that they could use their plasma weapons. The blinding orbs of energy formed on every ship, and the volley was released in a fury of boiling plasma. Darkest smirked and raised his shield. This time he had enough energy to reflect the shots. The plasma bolts clashed explosively with the dark shield before curving away. And Darkest laughed his maniacal laugh. But the distraction of these plasma bolts was enough to give Lightest enough time to strike. He formed two energy daggers and tossed them both up into Darkest's head-body connection. The little tube of flesh was severed, and Darkness cried in pain and alarm.

"No! You couldn't have!" Darkest cried, falling to the ground, now powerless.

"It's your weakness just as much as it is mine! You cannot win now, without your powers!" Lightest said, standing and healing himself.

Darkest grunted and reached a paw up to feel his wound. He frowned once, then smirked. "Once again you forget this World's power!" he bellowed.

Darkest held the Medallions up, and their energy replaced his completely. He used their energy to heal himself, and his head-body connection was returned to its proper state.

"That was a fairly good attempt, you would have beaten me then and there if it weren't for the Medallions!" Darkest cackled. "You aren't seeing every end of this battle, and it will be your downfall!"

"But it is you who is not seeing all ends!" A lone Gerudo voice cried. Ciela, the Gerudo with the Tiara-shaped scar, burst through a doorway carrying the Forest and Spirit Medallions. She slid them across the floor and Lightest grabbed them up. A huge burst of golden and green energy flowed forth from the Medallions in Lightest's hands, and they shots beams into Darkest's body, blasting him backwards into the sky. Lightest stood with energy anew, the Medallions healing him and refreshing him.

"You tell me that I do not see all ends when you're the one who is the most blind to them!" Lightest shouted. He charged two beams of raw elemental Forest and Spirit energy, and they blasted upwards and met the shield Darkest barely had time to raise. Darkest summoned the power of the Medallions he owned and the five elemental essences warred with each other in the air. It was a complete stalemate, Lightest had two Medallions and the energy support from his crew, and Darkest had three Medallions. They both pumped energy into their attacks, but neither made and ground. The entire sky shone from the power that was being exuded.

Ciela broke her stare from the battle and looked over at the Original Mewtwo which she had harassed so many times. She knew what she had to do. She pulled the Light Arrows and their bow from her knapsack and tossed them to Mewtwo.

"Break the deadlock! Put an end to it!" She cried.

Mewtwo nodded and pulled out an Arrow from the Quiver. He never knew how to use a bow and Arrows before, but something guided him in his mind. He knocked the arrow and Golden Light formed around the tip. He pulled the string back and the light intensified, almost blinding now. He centered his aim on Darkest, whispered a brief prayer, and let the arrow fly.

The noble Arrow flew straight and true, it's light grew stronger and stronger as it rushed up to meet the evil one. Its tip pierced Darkness's shield like a knife, and it embedded itself in Darkest's back. Darkest screamed a primordial cry of pain and rage and the pure good energy of the arrow burned through every vein in his body. The bolts of white light traveled his every nerve, filled his every sense, burning him inside and out. His shield gave way, and the beams of Forest and Spirit energy flew unopposed into his body, cutting basketball sized holes directly through him. When the last flash and glow of energy had disappeared, his limp body fell to the tower once more. His eyes were glazed and he was close to death as Lightest, Mewtwo and Ciela walked up to him.

"You were right, this war would end here." Lightest said, "But you were too blind to see its true outcome."

Ciela stepped forward, pulling one last item from her knapsack. "You may have conquered our world and taken most of its power and essence, but there was one force, buried by the ages, that you overlooked." She said, drawing a brilliant steel blade out of her pack. The sword had a blue handle with a single triple triangle marking above the hilt.

"The Sword of Evil's Bane, the One Blade evil ones may never touch, this is the Master Sword." Ciela said. "You came foolishly to absorb this world into yourself, never seeing the one instrument here that would be your downfall. Now, for all those you have killed, for my sisters, for the Hylians, for the Zoras and the Gorons and the Deku Forests, Be undone!"

Ciela raised the Sword of Evil's Bane and stabbed it down into Darkest's head. Darkest's body writhed and twisted and a look of pure horror entered his red eyes. And from the now glowing Master Sword, a pure energy entered Darkest's body, and he slowly turned to stone. The stone of Darkest's body then shook, cracked, and shattered into dust. Only a fell wind carried this dust away in a cloud of uncertainty as the three brave warriors stood victorious.

Conclusion

That fateful night when Mewtwo met his destiny, many Gerudo legends came to pass and many were thrown down. Those who had ran from the Blue Village in fear did not die by the hands of the storm, but they lived on to watch the lightshow in the Eastern Horizon that would mark their unexpected freedom. The clouds that were covering the world fell silent and disappeared. Hadara, Indiru and Fara were the closest, and they were able to witness the coming of the four starships as they moved East across the sky.

As Darkest met his end, a great thunder moved across the entire planet. The Empire's core had been destroyed, and one by one the dark towers that dotted the land collapsed into rubble. The sun rose over a renewed land, and as Darkest's tower in the East finally collapsed, so too did another Empire. Lightest had flown Mewtwo and Ciela away from the tower as it crumbled, and then said his goodbyes to both of them. Darkest's demise meant his as well, they were two halves and if one died the other would. The two heroes watched in sorrow as Lightest slowly faded and disappeared forever. The four ships hovering above the tower plummeted and crashed. Both Empires had fallen at once.

But before he had died, Lightest left Mewtwo a final message of hope.

"Ai was right, life is a wonderful gift. You must not let any of these happenings make you think otherwise. No matter what happens from here on, whether you decide to leave this dimension or not, enjoy the life you live. If you do, and you never let emotional stresses consume you, then this future shall never come to pass. This world will never have to go through what it did, and peace will return to many shattered worlds. Be happy, and live on as a whole."

**End**

**To be Continued in Book III: Of Light and Dark**

A/N: REVIEW THIS OR ELSE! I put thousands and thousands of gallons of feeling into this piece, and I WILL TAKE IT PERSONALLY IF YOU DON'T REVIEW! I've worked so hard on this chunk; it's taken a part of me to complete it. If I don't see any reviews on this chunk I will not hesitate to REMOVE this story from and not bother posting Book III. I'm serious. I've worked to hard on this to be ignored, so if you even remotely enjoyed this Book, review! Even if you're forced to leave an unsigned review, those still count! Just do ANYTHING to tell me that you know I exist! Thank you.


	12. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 1

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. If I were to wait to post the whole of Part III, it would be over a year before you heard from me again! I plan on making this Part just as long as Part II, if not LONGER. You heard me, longer! Hard to believe? Summer is coming soon, and once we reach the end of May I will be able to at least double my writing speed. At least, if I don't get too lazy. Then you can feel free to wail on me all you want. In the mean time, things will be as slow as ever.

**Prologue**

Five years have passed since that fateful day when the Empires fell. Despite the horrible catastrophe that was averted, many Gerudos still died. Having lived off of food stolen from the Imperial towers, hundreds of Gerudos suddenly found themselves without a way to live. There was only one path left for the scattered Gerudos, an idea so unheard of for thousands of years that many refused to accept it; they had to leave the desert. They salvaged what was left in the remains of the towers and went their separate paths.

Traveling together, the Red and Blue tribes were able to recover Imperial hover cars and put them to use. They packed all their food and accompanied by Mewtwo, moved South. Hadara remembered tales of a rich swamp in the far south, so she rallied them to leave. Only eight villagers out of both tribes were missing.

The Green Tribe to the North was never heard from again. Through their travels to the south, the unified Red and Blue Gerudos met up with the Southern dwelling Yellow Tribe. The Yellow Gerudos were in a state of panic and disarray, without food and water many of them were starving to death. The Red and Blue Gerudos offered places in their wagons and food from their dwindling stockpile. The remaining Yellow Gerudos gladly accepted.

It was almost a month after they had initially fled that the Gerudos finally found the Southern border of the Vile Desert. A great looming mountain marked the transition between desert and swampland, and the stolen hover cars easily traversed the rocky slopes of the snow covered peak. As they reached the pinnacle in the frigid air, the great marshlands stretched out before them for hundreds of miles. Rich with vegetation and life, it was an awe inspiring sight for the Gerudos; a new hope was blossoming for them.

Now, five years later, the new hope had blossomed forth into a wonderful life. The Gerudos had flourished, clearing a section of swampland and building a small city in the elapsed time. The swamp provided everything they needed, including food, water, and building materials. The rusted hulks of the now useless hover cars lay as a monument on the edge of the Gerudo town, half dissolved by the richly moist swampland air.

Since the merging of the Red, Blue and Yellow tribes, the Gerudos ceased to think of themselves as of one color. Separate leadership for each of the tribes was no longer needed, and since the previous Yellow Elder had died of starvation, Hadara had been chosen to lead the newly unified Gerudo society. She taught Ciela and Ruru more of the Hylian Legends, hoping that they would grow into fine leaders as well. Ciela's madness had taken most of her memory from her, so she did not remember most of her childhood. She looked into the future with now eager eyes.

All the Gerudos looked to the future with hope, but their revered hero, Mewtwo was slowly being consumed by doubt. Ever since he had overthrown the Empire, Mewtwo had been idolized by every Gerudo he met. Even Hadara bowed to him, and he always felt uncomfortable when she did. Gerudo children were almost scared of him because of his powers, and his status as the age's greatest hero was intimidating to him. Only Ruru seemed to be willing to spend time with him. And the Gerudos who had come from the Yellow tribe were never able to act completely casual with him around. They had never met him before, and some doubted the tales of his defeat of the Empire.

Mewtwo had mixed feelings about the Empire's end. At first, he only half expected the time continuum to change. But as the years passed in peace, he fully realized the scope of what should and shouldn't be happening. He now knew fully what would ever happen if his essence were split, and he was seriously intent on never letting it happen. And without Darkest here to split him manually, then the time-space continuum should have shifted by now. If Mewtwo never splits, then there never would be an empire to conquer this world, and the Deserts should disappear. The Gerudos shouldn't still be alone on this entire planet, but nothing had changed. When he tried to think farther into the matter, he realized that already there were many paradoxes apparent. Without Imperial control of this planet, he should not have been sucked down into its dimension, and therefore be going to witness the disaster that caused the split. But then the events with the Empires would occur, and henceforth the paradox. His head hurt every time he tried to think about this, and he was becoming more and more ridden with doubt with every passing month.

**Chapter I**

"Ok, give it to us!" Hadara shouted.

Mewtwo slowly lifted the heavy wooden log into the air with his powers, and floated it over to the group of Gerudos. He set it in their arms and they slowly tilted it upright into place. The frame for the new wooden house would be complete soon.

"Thanks! Now we need to tie this up with some rope." Hadara said, and someone handed her a thick coil of braided plant material. She lashed it down to the other logs with the assistance of the other Gerudos.

Mewtwo smiled at the teamwork the Gerudos had achieved. Ever since they had thrown off their tribal colors to survive together, all the rivalries had been thrown down and they worked together in harmony. They had built a significantly large town within almost five years, including a new square, a market, strong wooden houses and guard towers with stone taken from the mountain. Hadara had called this mountain Snowhead, and told him that used to be the home of mountain dwelling rock peoples, but since the coming of the Empire, they disappeared like many others. They had found no evidence of such a civilization crossing the mountain.

Further explorations also revealed several sights new to the Gerudos. To the slight Northeast of the Swamp was another Desert, only much smaller and isolated from the Vile Desert. In the center of this dry patch was a great canyon with a small river running along its bottom. Ancient remnants of a castle and further East still showed unrecognizable stone wreckage. Hadara knew little of either, except that the land had once been a kingdom called "Ikana". And to the Northwest of the Swamp, an amazing sight after the desert, clear sandy beaches met the lapping edges of an ocean. The Gerudos had never seen such a large amount of water before, and it was a discovery of monumentous proportions.

"Come on, are we going to finish building this house or what?" Hadara asked, and Mewtwo snapped out of his remembrances. He lifted a few smaller logs up to where Hadara was perched on the frame and she grabbed the out of the air, placing them on the frame.

With the finishing of the new house, the Gerudos clapped each other on their backs and went about to their own business. Mewtwo decided to take a short walk along the border of the town. The hustle and bustle passed him by and the stone on the square was hard under his feet. The moist air was filled with many different fragrances, baking breads, flowers, and the somewhat muddy smell of the marshland. Passing the last house, the line of hunched trees squatted like a wall of dark green bars. Moss and lichen hung from the gnarled branches, and here and there Mewtwo saw signs of environmental change. A few scant flowers grew up out of the damp soil, and there were dry spots strewn about. Mewtwo walked along the swamp's border, curving Northwards towards the small field that lied there. The town was located on the top border of the swamp, and north of the town was an open field. From the field you could go North to the mountain, West to the ocean, and East to the canyon. Mewtwo decided to walk to the ocean.

The beach slowly widened into view as Mewtwo slowly strode down the slight slope. The gentle breeze and the constant crashing of the waves filled the air with serenity and calm. Sea birds hovered lazily in the still cloudless sky, and a small stone shrine faced the never ending oceanic horizon. The Gerudos had built this shrine as a place to lay the Master Sword, Light Arrows and Elemental Medallions to rest. If there should ever be a need for them again, then they would be able to be retrieved and used. As Mewtwo walked down to the shore, the small breaking waves slowly came up to meet his feet. The water was cool and bracing, like dipping his feet into ice. The sun lazed in the noon sky amongst the drifting gulls and all was peaceful in the world.

Mewtwo began walking again, parallel to the shore and across the sand. The sands here at the beach were a lot friendlier than those in the Vile Desert. The sands of the beach were soft and yielding, while the Desert sands were abrasive and harsh. The feeling of sands between his toes caused Mewtwo to remember back to the desert. He remembered the bravery of the Gerudos and the sacrifices they made. How he had found friends in Ruru, Indiru and Kalana, and the good times they all shared. He wished that Kalana was still with him. It would have warmed her lonely heart to see that there was more to the world than the Vile Desert, even this somewhat smelly marsh would have been Nirvana for her. He remembered her warm smile, and how she used to support him, and he stifled back a small sob. A single tear rolled down his face and fell.

Grand adventures often start with but a small object, and this small glistening orb of water was the gate to a new time. Before it hit the ground, an ancient soul slowly influenced it to guide it's creator on a new path. Mewtwo didn't notice it at first, but the tear stopped in midair and hovered. It slowly floated back up to his face, and he stopped abruptly in surprise. He felt a powerful presence in the air, but not an evil one. The tear suddenly came into motion again, moving down the beach. Mewtwo followed curiously, only feeling a slight bit anxious. He followed it for almost a quarter of a mile down the beach, until it came to stop over a small stone slab. It then fell out of the air and landed on the grey stone inaudibly.

Mewtwo stared at this simple grey square slab for several minutes before his mind cranked to life again. "_This is a sign._" He thought to himself. The stone was unmarked and covered with several layers of thick and verdant lichen. Its edges showed evidence of once being relatively smooth, but erosion and high tides had worn it down into more of a disc shape. And most importantly, a feeling of energy was radiating from underneath it. Mewtwo slowly lifted the stone with his mind and set it aside on the sand. Underneath laid a bare, bleached white set of bones. There was no flesh left; this grave was obviously extremely old.

Mewtwo recoiled in shock and horror, not expecting the stone to be a headstone. But nothing, not even a rotting smell showed any trace of foulness. And still he could sense to evil presence, so Mewtwo leaned back over the grave and studied its contents carefully. The bones were bare and clean, and there were no signs of clothes. Amazingly, a small knapsack lied untouched next to the skeleton. It looked like it had not seen a day of age. Mewtwo hesitated, and then reached in to grasp this backpack. He carefully laid it onto the sands and opened the drawstring. The contents seemed quite a random arrangement of things. There were several bundles of wooden arrows, some funny looking masks, four empty glass bottles, a small notebook, and other items. Mewtwo wondered how these items could be intact after many years, maybe they had been planted. He doubted it, since the headstone seemed undisturbed.

Mewtwo gently opened the frail yellow pages of the notebook and examined them. All of the text was written in Hylian symbols. Mewtwo was suddenly very glad he had continued his lessons in Hylian with the Red Elder after they had settled in the swamp. He could now read Hylian text proficiently and understand the spoken language well. He just needed practice speaking it. That didn't matter though, since he was now absorbed in what was now apparently a journal in Hylian script. He began to read.

_Day 32_

_It has been a long time since I first left Hyrule, and I now wonder how my old friends are faring. But then I remember that in reality, it's only been three days. This time traveling is beginning to wear on my sanity, and having to earn and re-earn the same people's trust over and over again is becoming extremely frustrating. At least Tatl is not as talkative as Navi used to be, although I miss Navi very much._

_With every repeat of these three days I move closer to my goal and closer to stopping this murderous moon once and for all. I still don't understand why Skull Kid is doing this, he used to be a nice person, but now he's trying to bring this doom to us all. I know that if I fail here that Hyrule will be destroyed as well, so failure is not an option. I just wish I could stop the mindless monotony before I go mad._

Mewtwo skipped ahead about thirty pages and began reading again.

_Day 67_

_I've finally freed the last giant from his slumbering prison, and I am ready to stop this whole nightmare for good. I've had enough of that moon's evil gaze and the cackling laughter of the Skull Kid every time midnight approaches on the third day. The giants will put a stop to his mad plan and I will finally be able to leave this time death trap. I'm waiting out until the third day and then I'm going to confront the Skull Kid one final time._

Mewtwo flipped two days ahead and read.

_Day 69_

_I fear this may be my final entry into you my companion. Just as I said, I've waited and faced the Skull Kid, and the Four Giants were successful in stopping the moon from crashing down. But alas, things have gone awry. It was not by Skull Kid's will that these events have taken place, but by the will of the Mask itself. It is renewing the moon's strength and I have followed it inside the depth of the moons evil bowels. I write to you inside a dreamlike field of grass inside the moon's interior, on the eve of the final battle with the evil mask. I must go now, and put a stop to all this. To whomever finds this; If I should be found dead, and then bury me by the Eastern Sea where the Zoras live along with all of my possessions. I pray to the Goddesses that my quest has not come to naught._

The next page was blank except for a small note written in a different handwriting;

"_You've saved us all, but paid the ultimate price. In death, I wish for you to only know that I love you as you leave this plane."_

The signature under the note was scratched and smudged beyond recognition. Mewtwo slowly closed the olden book and laid it on the ground. He sat there for a long time, quizzing and mulling over the Journal's contents. It appeared to date all the way back to the Hylian Era, and the person who wrote it had came south here from Hyrule. The only thing that didn't make sense was the fact that it and all the other items were preserved so well, after around 7,000 years they should have been reduced to dust. Mewtwo poked his hand into the knapsack again and pulled out one last object.

The smooth cold surface of metal met Mewtwo's hand, and he pulled out the object, revealing it to be a small, vibrant blue glass musical instrument. It was oval shaped and polished, and a small mouthpiece extended outward with a gold band around it. At the base of the mouthpiece the symbol of the Triforce was embossed in gold plating. On the body of the instrument were holes, each one for a different note. Mewtwo's mind suddenly made a leaping connection. In the back of the book were what appeared to be musical notes written on the inside cover. They might pertain to this flute-like instrument. He reached back and opened the book to the back cover. Sure enough, the markings there were now easily seen to be musical notes. There were several lines, each one containing a separate short tune. Mewtwo held the instrument in his hands and impulsively brought it up to his mouth. Following the notes on the book, he slowly put his fingers to the holes and blew into the mouthpiece.

The song did not last long, but when it was over, Mewtwo gasped in astonish as a great outpouring of energy flowed from the small blue instrument. Reality itself bent around him and the beach suddenly disappeared. As the world disappeared into darkness, Mewtwo's vision went completely out of focus and his ears rang as the tune he had just played echoed loudly and repeatedly around him. He was swept away by the notes, out of thought and consciousness and he was lost in some sort of time-dimensional rift. He blacked out under the great strain of the interdimensional forces.

A/N: I know this first chunk was a bit short, but it was only the intro to this next book. Things are about to get very interesting for Mewtwo, so you'll be repaid in the next two or three chunks. And as for my outburst I had awhile ago at the end of Book II, I'd like to apologize for the immature way I acted. I was in a fit of extreme depression and I was emotionally strangled. I'm sorry if I offended anyone and I hope you all can forgive me for losing my self control like that. Just enjoy the next few chunks as they come, reviewing optional as my way of saying sorry for being such an ass.


	13. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 2

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk TWO. I know that this is still a few pages shorter than my regular chunk length, but I think that the plot developments and cliffhanger here will be more than satisfying! And I'm sorry it took so long to post this, but as usual, school's been an unforgiving bitch. Not only that, but I had a vacation where I got lazy and didn't write, so it's my fault there too. I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter II**

A soft whispering echo flowed out of darkness and into reality. As time passed silently it grew and took form, at first a hard to distinguish hum, and growing into a deeper and more dimensional sound of waves. And then, the feeling of soft sands suddenly joined the sensory input of the sounds. The one feeling these sensations suddenly felt he had a body, and it was lying on this sand. And then the cold made itself known. Finally, his mind returned to him completely and Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes. The darkness of the night sky them and he realized he was still on the beach.

"_I must have fallen over unconscious on the beach, and I've been lying here all day." _ Mewtwo thought to himself. He didn't even remember the grave or the strange phenomenon he had encountered. Then, as he was about to stand up, his hand touched the familiar surface of the instrument that caused all this, and he remembered what had happened. His eyes suddenly darted around the landscape as wondered where or when he had been taken.

The place he was in was deceptively similar to the one he had left that morning, it was a long sandy beach, but things had changed. Instead of slowly sloping upwards to the field, the edge of the beach was met with a rocky cliff. Outcroppings cut outward from this cliff into the body of the beach, making it impossible to see far down the beach on both sides. Where the stone slab grave had been, there was only bare sand. The blue instrument sat in the sand where it had fallen from his hands after he had blacked out.

Mewtwo groaned and slowly picked himself up, pain was streaking up his back. The place where Darkest had attached the collar to him had never fully healed. The place where it had attached to him had scarred over, and it sometimes bled. Right then, pain was screaming up from it and through his spine. He forced it out of his mind and stood, picking up the instrument as he did. A beam of light suddenly passed overhead, sweeping across the sky and disappearing out over the ocean in a lighthouse-like movement. The source of the light came from above the cliff, and it quickly moved off out of sight.

Even if it was only a seemingly minor oddity, this light piqued Mewtwo's curiosity. He was still too disorientated to keep his mind on track, and the light almost had the same effect as a will-o-the-wisp. He levitated himself upward over the cliff's rim and looked down into the normally empty grassy field. But the field he was so familiar with had changed drastically. In the center a great, glowing city stood surrounded by high stone walls. From the center of the city rose a great stone spire, atop of which a large rotating orb sat. From this orb came the beam of light he had seen, continually sweeping the sky in a circular pattern.

Mewtwo nearly dropped the small blue instrument out of pure shock, it was now clear to him that things had most definitely changed while he was out. The glow of the city was a sharp contrast to the regular dim lights that emanated from the Gerudo village. Thinking of the Gerudos, Mewtwo turned his gaze south towards the swamp. There was no sign of any civilization at the marsh's borders, it was as if the Gerudos had never settled there.

Mewtwo suddenly felt a sharp and cold feeling of being alone. His friends, Ruru, Indiru, the Red Elder, had all disappeared. He simply floated there for minutes, hovering on the verge of tears. As the beam of light passed over his head again, something not too high above in the sky caught his eye. He looked up and saw a malicious, stony face grinning evilly down at him from the surface of some large planetoid. The stare was unchanging and evil, the eyes never moved from their fixation on the field and the city. At the edges of the face were regular looking craters, normal to any moon. If this were a moon however, it was on the verge of colliding with the planet, and its unnatural face looked intent on doing just that. It almost seemed that the entire round mass were moving, inching slowly closer in the sky. It's red eyes glinted, waiting to consume the luscious field and bustling city below.

This time Mewtwo did drop the instrument in shock, and slowly came to rest on the cliff edge. The whole scene of the city, moon and empty swamp was nearly too much for him to absorb. He sat there dumbfounded, unable to find words for his utter astonishment. Then, the strange looking tower in the center of the city burst to life. The orb on top split neatly in two and a clock face on the other side slowly lowered. The orb eventually rejoined, revealing a bowl-like indentation that could be used as a platform. Suddenly, a few scant fireworks crackled up into the sky, as if celebrating some unfamiliar day of independence. When the newly reformed tower was still again and the fireworks ceased, the air hung silent for many moments. The moon still greedily stared down at its prize.

Just as Mewtwo was about to stand up again, an ear piercing scream filled the air. It was a male voice, bellowing for all it's worth as if calling for something. A reply was not made without haste, as suddenly the ground began to perceptively shake. And the moon, which had used to be only seeming to move, suddenly began creeping visibly down through the sky. As it burned through the atmosphere, its perimeter became engulfed in flames and it moved slowly down towards the city out of the night sky. And then, the ground rumbled even harder.

Mewtwo felt a pronounced concussion in the Earth, and suddenly a great rushing of water filled his ears. He jolted his head around to see a monstrously large hulk emerging from the sea. Brown wrinkled skin slowly arose from under the depths as a great giant slowly climbed out of the water. It only took two steps to make it to the mainland, and wind lashed at Mewtwo as its giant foot passed over his head.

Mewtwo ducked instinctively, and looked up after the wind had passed. More giants were walking down onto the field. There were three more, making four total, each coming from a different direction on the compass. They stood in a circle around the city and raised their arms. Their palms met the moon's surface and its great weight caused them to shake and quiver with effort, they were attempting to stop the cataclysm. The moon pushed, and they pushed, and the moon's descent slowed gradually and stopped. The wreath of flame disappeared and the air was suddenly still again. The giants stood there, holding up the moon with their bare hands, and the world seemed to have been put on pause.

Mewtwo stood, his blood filled with new resolve. He reached down, grabbed the instrument, and flew up into the air. He streaked through the still atmosphere straight towards the moon. He suddenly stopped when the moon's face changed. It's previously toothy smiled had opened to a wide hungry mouth, and a small tendril of light crept up into its awaiting jaws. The light disappeared before long, and the moon's eyes glowed with renewed, sinister power.

"**I will consume…consume everything!**" A booming voice echoed from the sinister planetoid.

Suddenly, the giants trembled under renewed force. The moon pushed down at them with renewed might, almost double of what it had been previously. The giants' arms shook under the stress and their sturdy knees wobbled. Deep throated groans came from them as they tried desperately to save the land. Mewtwo awoke from his surprise and raced forward again, streaking upwards towards the moon's open mouth. He passed through the darkness and oddly, into an open field. It was suddenly sunny, and a lone tall tree presided on top of a hill. Mewtwo didn't notice four children prancing around the base of the tree as he raced toward it. In desperation, he was hoping this odd tree was the moon's heart, and he formed an energy sword, preparing to slice it clean in half. But before he could, the scene changed around him yet again. The illusionary tree and field melted away like a hologram with a melting transition program. Instead of a boundless field of green, walls appeared, all covered in unrecognizable runic symbols. In the center of the room stood a small figure, a child clad in a green tunic and carrying a shield and sword on his back. A colorful, tentacled mask hovered in the center of the room, facing the boy.

The boy looked back to see Mewtwo, and his face suddenly showed that of extreme shock. He drew a small bow out of his backpack and knocked an arrow. He would have fired if the floating mask hadn't suddenly attacked him. The tentacles lashed across him and knocked him flat out onto his face, and he skidded to a halt painfully on the stone floor. Mewtwo decided he didn't want to be a part in whatever battle this was, he needed to find the moon's heart and stop it fast. He cloaked himself and tried to teleport out of this strange room, but a strange energy was flowing through the walls and it prevented his escape. He was forced to turn and watch the battle unfolding between the strange tentacled mask and the green clad boy.

The boy pulled out what appeared to be an "L" shaped piece of wood, adorned with jewels and symbols. He lobbed it into the air, and it curved around and struck the mask sharply, knocking it out of the air. It then continued curving around until it came right back to the boy's hand. The child then drew a gold and silver gilded sword and lunged at the incapacitated piece of wood. He landed a mighty blow that should have cut the mask in half, but it only dented the mask's surface. The mask regained control over its body and lashed out at its attacker with its tentacles. The boy was knocked backwards several feet and tumbled to a stop again on the stone. He groaned once and then stood again.

Instead of attacking again, the child rummaged through his knapsack. He pulled out a normal, non-tentacled mask that bore the face of a white haired, white pupiled man. He eagerly placed the mask on his face and suddenly his body went rigid. Mewtwo could not believe his eyes as the boy's body began to change. The mask seemed to merge with his face, and his body structure was growing into that of an adult. His green tunic turned into a suit of hard leather armor and his hood turned white along with his pupils. The sword he held also split in two and the two split ends curved around each other like fighting cobras. When the change was complete, it was no longer a little boy in green that stood there, but a powerful armor clad warrior.

The threatening mask didn't seem to care, it simple began spinning and lunged at its transformed opponent. But the warrior didn't let the mask pull off the same trick twice, a bolt of energy flashed from the tip of the twisted sword and impacted the incoming mask. A cry of pain screeched from the mask as it fell stunned to the floor again. The warrior then lunged forward and threw all his might into a great cleaving blow. Once again, the mask only dented, but its paint scraped and chipped and somehow, it was crying in pain. The warrior made several blows before the tentacles lashed out and knocked him back. The mask floated back up into the air and began to change.

By this time Mewtwo was used to seeing strange transformations, but he wasn't ready when suddenly two legs, two arms, and a sinister head sprouted from the mask. Upon its head rested one large eye and it suddenly began dancing through the room at an amazing speed. The white haired fighter backed off to a safe distance and pointed his sword at the creature again. Another similar bolt flew out and struck the mask-creature senseless, and the warrior lunged forward and struck the being repeatedly, just like before. It took several blows without breaking before throwing off its attacker. Again it began to change.

The creature's arms and legs bulked up, as if the muscle tissue was multiplying within a matter of seconds. Its arms grew into elongated whips, and it grew a snarling, drooling mouth. It lashed out at the warrior ferociously with its new whips and drove him back to the wall. With little room between the lashing whips and the hard wall, the warrior pointed his sword again and shot the creature with another bolt. It took several shots to knock it down, and when it did fall incapacitated the warrior lunged forth once again. He slashed and beat the creature with his sword, and it cried out in agony. Instead of throwing off its attacker this time, the creature reached up the tip of one of its whips and slapped the warrior directly across his face.

Within an instant the white haired mask was off, it sailed through the air and landed upon the stone. Suddenly it was only a little boy standing over the tentacled beast. The boy cried out in fear and made a mad lunge for the white haired mask, but the other whip came down upon the mask, splitting it in half. A fine white smoke left the broken mask before it suddenly burst to flame and disappeared. The boy slowly turned to face the creature, his face pale with fear. The creature stood, and seemed to chuckle for a moment before it lashed out with its whips.

Mewtwo appeared out of thin air, de-cloaking between the boy and the whip. He cleanly sliced the whip right off with an energy sword he had formed while watching. The beast quivered and screamed in pain, and the young boy's eyes lit up with surprise and relief. Mewtwo landed and smiled to the brave little child and gave him a thumbs-up sign. The boy laughed weakly, and then suddenly shouted something loudly in Hylian, pointing. Mewtwo tried to dredge up his lessons in Hylian again, he wasn't proficient in understanding spoken words, but was interrupted by the beast's other tentacle whip wrapping around his ankle. The beast spun him through the air like a rag doll, and would have thrown him against the wall if the boy hadn't stopped it. The brave child stabbed his now normal gilded sword into the beast's side and it stopped spinning Mewtwo to turn and face him. This was all the time that Mewtwo needed. He sliced the other tentacle clean off with his energy sword.

The beast let out one great cry of pain and lurched forward. It threw all its massive weight into a powerful body slam and fell on top of the boy with a great bang. The floor shook as the boy disappeared under the creature's bulk, flattened while trying to save Mewtwo's life.

**Chapter III**

The sights, sounds and feelings of another life flashed into Mewtwo's mind. Strange faces, both tender and violent came and went. Wonderful, lush valleys, deep blue ocean-scapes, and a familiar orange desert flashed by. Strange and lustrous smells, wonderful tastes, and infinitely spectacular sights all passed through Mewtwo's consciousness within a moment. By the time it had passed, the horrendous mask beast had stiffened itself and hung in the room in an almost crucifixion position. It's body glowed and disintegrated, letting out one final howl before burning to ashes and disappearing.

Then, the room that surrounded Mewtwo and the boy's crushed body melted away again, first it gave way back to the green field, and then the tree in the center burst into flames which spread onto the grass. A small beam of light emerged from the dark borders of the field behind them, and slowly surrounded them. It lifted them up and out of the field, through a dark tunnel, and out of the moon's mouth. They came to rest back in the grassy field near the city. The moon, now free from its evil influence, slowly changed back to normal and rocketed back up into the sky. Its face gone, it slowly turned back into the familiar white ghostly orb hanging in the distant sky.

Mewtwo crawled over to the unfortunate child who had saved his life. His limbs had been crushed and his neck snapped twice under the Mask Beast's weight. No pulse remained in his still veins. Life had already left him, so there was nothing Mewtwo could do. He could heal any injury with his power, but he could not call back the souls of the dead to return to their bodies. He had been extremely lucky to have saved Ruru back at the Red Village Tower. He noticed something familiar about the boy, and turned him over and pulled off the knapsack. It was indeed the same one that he had found in the grave.

A chill of shock and horror ran across Mewtwo's mind, body and soul. He was responsible for the death of this person, the one who carried the instrument that had taken him here. Mewtwo still clutched the blue flute in his left hand, it was now wet with his nervous sweat. Anxiously, he opened the knapsack and pulled out that very same instrument. Time had indeed reversed itself to bring him here. The two identical flutes glimmered and Mewtwo shuddered.

"_I know what it is he wanted done._" Mewtwo thought to himself. He then picked up the boy's body and carried it down to the beach. He found the spot where he had woken up earlier and dug a hole where he had seen the grave back in the future. He laid the hero child to rest inside the hole and put the second flute back in the knapsack and set the knapsack in the grave with him. He then pulled a large stone slab over the grave, not realizing it was identical to the one he had pulled off back in the future.

"I only knew you for a moment, before I brought this fate upon you." Mewtwo said, saying a few last words to the little hero. "You fought bravely and valiantly, and you died in an act of courage."

A moment of silence passed as Mewtwo bowed his head over the identical grave, and he began to walk off after he was satisfied with the job he had done. But a strange vibration caused him to turn back and look again. The gravestone was shaking, almost enough to cause it to crack. And slowly, it moved itself back off of the open grave. Mewtwo recoiled in fear, anticipating some sort of zombie horror, but instead a glowing golden light poured out of the open grave. It was blinding, a great radiance that filled his senses as it arose into the air. It slowly floated down towards him, its light fading to tolerable levels.

As Mewtwo's eyes adjusted, he saw a single golden triangle, only a few inches tall and wide, and about a centimeter thick. It floated up to his face and hovered there, emitting a powerful energy essence.

"Courage, the quality of acting despite of one's fear. The Hero of Time was courageous, and as are you. And so you shall take his gift and curse upon yourself. This is your destiny, and the will of the Triforce."

And before Mewtwo could even wonder where the voice had come from, the triangle suddenly sped forward and impacted with his forehead, knocking him backwards and merging with his skull. A strobe of golden light was all Mewtwo saw before his consciousness was swept away from him once again.

A/N: Yep, Mewtwo now possesses the Triforce of Courage. If you thought he was powerful before, wait till you see him next chunk! Whoo! And we'll be seeing more Zelda Characters as well, since Mewtwo is now going to figure out why he was sent to this time period in the first place. Remember, reviews, even unsigned and extremely short, are always what keep me writing!


	14. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 3

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk THREE. I've been in a bit of a writer's speed slump lately, which is where I can still write, it just comes to me a lot slower. I'm sure you've noticed already, it's the reason why the first 2 chunks of this book were so short. Well, because of my current workload and writing speed I'm going to shorten my standard chunk length from 10 pages to 6. I'll write more than that if I feel up to it and have the time. Even with shorter chunks however, I can still promise you quality writing!

**Chapter IV**

"_Is he worthy?_"

"_Time will tell, we must be patient._"

The voices subsided into the darkness as Mewtwo slowly came back into consciousness. A searing pain was blazing in his forehead and on the back of his right paw. Before he even opened his eyes his face cringed from the fiery pain that was etching his body. When he did finally open his eyes, sunlight shining over the field met them. The city and its tower still stood proudly over the surrounding grasslands and to his left was the ledge that dropped off to the beach.

Mewtwo groaned and sat up, only vaguely remembering what had happened to him last night. He remembered burying the green clad boy, and a golden glow, and the words "Is he worthy" echoing in nothingness. He slowly lifted his right hand to see what was causing the pain, and remembered the triangle that had flown from the boy's body. Here it was, infused in the back of his hand, shining in the sun off of its polished surface. It had shrunk in size to only about 2/3 of a centimeter in its dimensions, and it seemed to have effortlessly merged with his hand.

Mewtwo then reached up to his forehead, and felt burned skin. A triangle shaped patch of his skin had been severely charred where the Triforce had entered his body, and his skin cracked and shattered as he touched it. He winced in pain again.

Mewtwo looked down at the Triangle in his hand. Suddenly, a memory clicked in his mind. He remembered the Red Elder telling him about the Hylian legends of the Triforce, and artifact so old and powerful, it was said to contain the power of three Goddesses. He remembered that she had told him that the Triforce could split itself into three pieces, but she hadn't told him why it would do that. Here he had one of the three pieces, passed down to him by the young child who had fought the mask creature. He was pondering this intently when suddenly a small boy with a blue cap skipped up over the pinnacle of a nearby hill and saw him.

"Monster! Monster!" The boy cried and turned and ran. Mewtwo stood up and looked as the boy sprinted towards the massive doors of the city, crying out for help. He swallowed hard as the boy entered and the double doors creaked shut.

"I needn't be seen again." Mewtwo said to himself. He cloaked himself, and suddenly cried out in crippling pain. The Triforce piece in his left hand suddenly burned with a staggering new pain. It felt as if his hand was being dipped in lava. Streaks of purple light ran down his arm and disappeared into the triangle, which was now glowing in a light tinge of purple.

Mewtwo let go of his cloak and suddenly the pain stopped. He fell to his knees, panting and sweating. The triangle had sucked at his very life energy, triggered by his using of his powers. As the pain finally subsided, Mewtwo's face contorted with rage.

"Why is it that there's always something preventing from using my abilities?" He screamed in his head. "Is this the curse that the voice mentioned? Am I to be helpless again? The Red Elder's legends certainly didn't mention this!" He raged on, still keeping his voice silent.

Slowly, the double doors of the city opened again, and a group of armored guards carrying spears trotted out. There were ten of them, and they were all heading directly towards Mewtwo's current position. Mewtwo let go of his anger for the moment and stood up and ran south west towards the swamp. He knew he could lose his pursuers there.

The guards were quick in their stride, quicker than Mewtwo with his less than ideal shaped legs. They gained on him quickly as he sprinted toward the swamp. He could hear them shouting and whooping behind him, spears at the ready, and all of this because he had frightened the little child in the blue cap. Mewtwo was still too confused and caught up in the chase to think about turning to talk to the soldiers. He didn't remember that the Hylian demons and monsters didn't talk, and that he could prove that he wasn't a monster simply by saying something. He continued to run towards the swamp that grew larger as he got closer to it.

Once he reached the edge, he saw how different it was from the swamp he had known with his 5 years with the Gerudos here. It was a lot less overgrown, and the water was not nearly as mucky. He waded in and swam like a dog in a pond. A small hut also stood on stilts at the edge of the swamp, but he didn't bother seeking shelter where there might be more people who would be frightened. He swam with all his will, not looking back.

After a few minutes it became obvious that the guards had not followed him in, the edge of the swamp was out of sight and there was neither sight nor sound of his pursuers. Only the gentle chirping of birds and sloshing of the water around him met his ears. It was more like a wet forest that a swamp here now. Everywhere bright colored foliage sprang up from the ground in bursts of colors like fireworks. This swamp was completely unlike the one he had known, the swamp where he had lived was a complete drab grey brown, and all its plants were drooping blobs of mush that hung from the branches of long dead or dying trees. Here however, the trees were full of life and surrounded by vivid shrubs and other flora.

Mewtwo didn't want to stay in the same place for too long, the people might bring a raft of some sort to pursue him with. He waded and then paddled further into the dense forest. The water he swam in was almost completely clear, and it was cool and refreshing on his tired body. He rounded the trunks of many trees and past many boulders, twisting and turning like a mountain road. A large hill rose up out of the water ahead of him, and a jetty jutted out in front of a path that followed a low furrow in the hill. Mewtwo decided that this was a safe bet, so he climbed out of the water and onto the jetty. He walked down to the path and followed it around several twists, and around the last one a tall house on stilts rose through the furrows of the hill.

As Mewtwo slowly walked around the corner, something slowly floated up into the air out of the top of the hut. Mewtwo craned his neck and saw two hunched figures hovering on brooms rising up into the air. The two flyers rose just a bit higher before rocketing forward in separate directions. They flew out of view quickly, and Mewtwo rubbed his eyes and blinked. The flying figures looked oddly familiar, and the smell of must and age flashed in Mewtwo's mind.

Curiosity once again exerted its influence on Mewtwo, and he assumed that whoever those two flyers were, they were the only inhabitants of the hut. He almost tried to fly again to reach the hut, but the memory of the pain stopped him. He climbed the skinny ladder up to the raised platform and opened the door to the hut. The inside was incredibly cramped; a great furnace took up a good portion of the space inside. The walls were lined with shelves covered in all variety of odd looking knick knacks, many different unrecognizable pictograph pictures, and bottles containing liquids of many different colors. And a small counter on the end of the room had three bottles set on it.

"Can it be?" Mewtwo wondered aloud. The leftmost bottle was bright red, just like the potions Fara had. Mewtwo grabbed a sharp pointed stone off of the other end of the table and jabbed it into his arm. Blood trickled out slowly. He then reached over and popped the cork off of the red filled bottle. He took a light drink and looked down at the hole he had punched in his skin. It slowly shrank and disappeared, leaving only the little dab of blood that had seeped out. It was now apparent; this was the same kind of Red Potion that the Gerudos used on their injured.

His common sense kicking in, Mewtwo decided that he needed to take the potion with him. He had been carrying the flute instrument in his right hand while traveling this land, and carrying the potion with him would only be more of a hindrance. Thinking of that, he reached up and grabbed a large knapsack off of one of the shelves. He put the potion and the blue flute into the sack and slipped it onto his back.

Two bottles still remained on the counter, one containing a green liquid and one containing a blue liquid. Mewtwo picked the green one up curiously, wondering what malady it would cure. He popped the cork off and smelled it. It held the same refreshing and sharp odor as the red potion, only with a tingling sensation. He took the pointed rock and scratched himself again, then took a small drink of the green drought. It had a distinctly different flavor, not smooth and mild, but it was like taking a swig of Worcestershire sauce. The cut did not disappear from his arm, and the potion burned his mouth to the point where he nearly spat it out. But before he did, the burn wore off and a new feeling replaced it. Suddenly, an electrifying feeling of energy flooded his body, energizing him and heightening his senses. It was like his metabolism had quadrupled in a few seconds, and the Triforce piece on his right hand suddenly glowed iridescent green.

The feeling of energy that flowed through Mewtwo compelled him to try and use his powers. He tried lifting a trinket off of one of the shelves, and smiled widely when no pain came when he did. But the energy that he now possessed was slipping away quickly, it was slowly traveling down his right arm and into his third of the Triforce.

Mewtwo was sold on this new type of potion, he corked it and stuck it into his knapsack. He then reached for the blue filled bottle and uncorked it. He took a drink and found it to be a half and half taste of smooth and spicy. The cut disappeared off of his arm and the jolting energy renewed itself in his system.

"I'm liking these new types of potion." Mewtwo said to himself as he corked the blue potion and stuck it into his knapsack.

"Thief!" an old, craggy voice cracked through the air.

Down through a hole in the roof, two old, wrinkled Gerudo women hovered down on brooms. They were sitting stoutly on their brooms, and they landed on the floor, and Mewtwo fell backwards in shock and fear.

"Ko….Kotake and Koume!" Mewtwo sputtered in a disbelieving voice.

"How do you know our names, thief?" Kotake growled.

"I…I…Aren't you supposed to be in the Spirit Temple?" Mewtwo stammered, completely confused.

"Spirit Temple? I don't have the foggiest idea of what you're talking about! Now return that pack and the potions you stole!" Koume shouted.

Mewtwo's better sense told him that it would be best not to fight two witches as powerful as these, but by now he was so confused and frightened that a fleeing instinct kicked in and he flew up out of the hole in the roof and out over the trees of the swamp. Kotake and Koume followed on their brooms, tossing fireballs and ice bolts after him. Mewtwo blocked them with his shield and kicked into his highest flying speed, leaving a bright blue glowing contrail behind him. Kotake and Koume were left in the dust as Mewtwo rocketed straight North towards Snowhead Mountain.

**Chapter V**

Thick white clouds encased the entirety of Snowhead Mountain, and a deep layer of snow covered the ground. The long and winding paths up the mountain and the craggy peaks at the top were equally covered in pure, blinding white. As Mewtwo approached, the last of the energy that the potions had benefited him was slipping away. The Triforce piece in Mewtwo right arm slowly started to hurt, the pain increased as the energy dropped. He descended slowly and landed on a path on the mountain, and his foot sank deeply into the snow. He suddenly shivered violently, wondering if this had been the best place to lose Kotake and Koume. He tried to fly again, but by now the energy afforded by the potion had faded and the searing pain returned in full force.

Mewtwo trembled in the cold, his breath puffing out in a cloud before his eyes as snowflakes came to rest upon his head. He slowly pulled out the green potion and uncorked it. He had used a good portion of it in his test, and suddenly he hesitated to drink it. He might need it for later, if he ran out of red potion he would need to heal himself. And not too far off through the thick falling snow, a warm yellow light flickered invitingly. Mewtwo corked the potion and trudged through the snow while holding his arms around himself and shuddering with violent shivers. His feet sank three feet through the snow and became numb very quickly, as did most of his skin. He was beginning to lose almost all of his feeling in his limbs when he approached the light source, a warm looking cabin made of wood with a smoking chimney. He didn't care if the people inside would be scared, he'd rather stay here than use his potions to fly off of the mountain. He fumbled up the steps and knocked on the door.

A harsh creaking noise punctuated the door swinging open quickly. Inside the door stood a thin pasty man in long underwear and holding a cup of steaming coffee. When he saw Mewtwo's form he instinctively recoiled in fear and almost closed the door, but Mewtwo spoke first.

"C-Can I p-please have a warm place to s-stay?" Mewtwo managed to say through his chattering teeth. The fur on his body was frozen to him and he looked pale blue on the outside.

"You're not a monster, you can talk!" The man inside the door said.

"Y-yes, can we please discuss this in f-front of a fire?" Mewtwo asked in his best pathetic voice.

The skinny man showed Mewtwo into the cabin, and Mewtwo realized that it wasn't a cozy log home that was tucked away amongst the snows, but rather, a hot, cramped, blacksmith's shop. A great forge stood on the other side of a wall to wall counter at the end of the one room shop, and it was attended by one of the most hideous, disfigured men Mewtwo had ever seen. The skinny man saw Mewtwo's horrified expression and expounded.

"Him, he's my partner. He does all the hard work while I do the business deals. Name's Jacob, might I ask who you are, my frighteningly demon-like friend?" Jacob asked.

"I was named Mewtwo by my creators, I've been living in this world for almost six and a half years now, just…" Mewtwo cut himself off before he could say that he was new to this time period.

"Creators? You're an odd fellow. Me myself, I've only been here for a few days. I've been covering for my brother who owns this shop. He left with most of the people of Clock Town to escape the moon." Jacob said, rambling just a bit.

"Clock Town?" Mewtwo asked.

"You're quite ignorant of the landscape for someone who's been here for six years! It's the big city just south of here in Termina Field! It's only the main hub of all daily life and trade in this land!"

As Jacob spoke, a swift knock made itself heard on the front door. The deformed man tending the forge grunted in alarm and Jacob growled at him for quiet. He then motioned for Mewtwo to step behind the counter and hide. Mewtwo did so, and wondered what the trouble could be as a draft of icy air from the opening door swept around the counter to swirl about him. Jacob's voice intermingled with the voices of two unfamiliar males, and a short pause was filled with the howl of the fierce snowstorm outside. Then, a few more inaudible words were said and the door slowly creaked shut again. Mewtwo stood up deliberately and saw a slightly worried look in Jacob's face.

"Come here." Jacob said sternly.

Mewtwo walked over to the table, shaken by Jacob's sudden change in attitude. "What is it?" He asked.

"Those were two guards from Clock Town. They were carrying this." Jacob said, and rolled a piece of parchment onto the table. On this parchment was a rough sketch of Mewtwo's form and his face, and under it was written "Danger!" in big bold letters.

"Can you explain?" Jacob asked, looking into Mewtwo's eyes.

Mewtwo stifled back a shudder, and spoke. "I was wandering through….Termina Field, when suddenly I stumbled onto this playing child. I tried to speak to him and tell him that I wasn't a monster, but he ran screaming back into the walls of Clock Town before I could say anything!"

"I can see how someone could fear you at first look, what with the horns and all, but they told me that you robbed a local potion shop owned by two innocent old ladies!" Jacob snapped.

"Innocent old ladies? What are you talking about? They were Kotake and Koume, stepmothers of the wicked King of Evil and the ones who brainwashed Nabooru the Spirit Sage! I'm sure they could part with three potions!" Mewtwo shouted, now thoroughly agitated.

"Are you pulling all of this out of thin air? I haven't met those women personally, but they have a good reputation in the community as having been honest potion makers all their lives! I've never heard any of this Evil King fiddle faddle before in my life!"

Mewtwo was out of things to say, maybe the two witches were doppelgangers of the original Kotake and Koume, or maybe they were brought back to life and memory wiped to live here. Either way, Jacob spoke again before he could think of something to reply with.

"I should have turned you in to those guards right then and there, but I knew there was something about you that was special. Somehow, you were going to end up giving me good fortune, or maybe getting me rich, so I told them I hadn't seen you. But by the Gods, you'd better not try to steal any of my things or I'll have this big brute pulverize you!"

"Of course! I haven't need for swords or other metal worked items, I just need a place to stay until the storm settles down!" Mewtwo said hopefully.

"Hmm, well, all right. But for your sake, my intuition had better have been right, this stay isn't free for thieves!" Jacob said.

Mewtwo sat and waited most of the rest of the day away while the snowstorm raged in blind fury for hours. The snow piled up many more feet, it covered half the door by nightfall. Darkness approached eagerly, aided on by the heavily clouded sky. Jacob gave Mewtwo a plateful of roasted beef for dinner and the three of them sat down at the counter and ate dinner. And once it was time to hit the sack, Jacob gave Mewtwo a small rollout sleeping bag. The bulky smith with his great deformed body put out the forge and pulled out an unfolding bed from behind his counter to sleep. Jacob laid down on his own mini-mattress and soon fell asleep as well. Both smith and shopkeeper slumbered, but Mewtwo found his sleep disturbed as the snowstorm buffeted the cabin.

"Where should I go now?" Mewtwo thought to himself. "What is my goal in this time period? Maybe I should try using the flute to return to the Gerudos." He thought. He looked at his right paw, saw the shining metal of the Triforce glinting in the darkness, and knew that that option would probably be unlikely. His obtaining of the Triforce was a sign, one that told him that he needed to do something here in this time period. He just didn't know what. And as he thought, he also realized the paradoxes that were now inherent in the time stream. As he had created the green clothed child's grave, he didn't realize that he had made it to the exact size, shape and appearance as the one he had found back in his own time. It was an obvious creation-cause paradox, and yet he was still here, and the time-space continuum hadn't collapsed. Something was seriously goofy with this dimension, in any other world the entire fiber of reality would have been shredded by such a paradox, but not here.

Also, what was up with Kotake and Koume? Now that he was no longer being interrogated by Jacob, Mewtwo had time to mull this matter over in his mind as well. It seemed to be yet another paradox, two evil women who were supposed to be dead were still alive, and living lives of peace selling potions. This clearly defied the legends that the Gerudos had passed down, and the stories that were written in the Spirit Temple itself. It was true in their time, but not in this one. It might have been possible that the Gerudo Elders had been changing the legends over time as they were continuously passed down, but to defy the writing in the Temple, which was obviously made during the Hylian time period; it seemed to make no sense. Mewtwo decided that these two witches here in this land called Termina must be some form of doppelgangers or identical twins, maybe there had been four at birth? It didn't matter, his mind was moving on again after satisfying itself.

As he began thinking about his next item that bugged him, Mewtwo didn't feel the outside influence acting on him at first. It was only a simple message, a directional attraction to the North, which implanted itself almost subliminally in his mind as he slowly began to lose his concentration on his thoughts and to drift to sleep. By the time he decided to give up on his ruminations and let the sandman do his work, the Northward attraction in his mind was just as strong as the Eastward attraction that Darkest had used to lure him in. Only this Northward attraction was not controlled by sinister forces, but by the power of the other two Triforce pieces, which were now calling to their brother. They wanted to become whole once more, and now a brooding dark feeling was descending on one of their possessors.

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who has been reviewing lately, the outpouring of support you've been showing has just filled me to the brim with good feelings! It's good to know so many people like my writing, and I'd like to thank each and every one of you who has helped me, even after my little fit of depression. YOU GUYS ROCK!


	15. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 4

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk FOUR. Only one chapter this time? Why not just start posting these chapter by chapter? Well since school's about to be out soon it's pointless since I'll be getting back on the proverbial writing ball once I'm free from all these projects and tests to study for. Anyway, I just posted this chapter by itself mainly because it's such a big one and I needed to post SOMETHING to make sure you guys know I'm alive and that my homework has not drawn and quartered me yet, although I'm getting suspicious. Enjoy this chapter folks, because it will probably be the end of May by the time I post something again. Accursed schoolwork. VV

**Chapter VI**

The stately towers of Hyrule castle stood majestically over the plains of the kingdom, overseeing the lives of its busy and prosperous inhabitants. A cool breeze caressed the lush grass on the fertile pastures and cows listlessly browsed the bounty. Merchants and traders industriously hurried about their business, and children laughed and ran in the warm sun of the Hylian land. Slowly but surely, an ominous cloud gathered in the sky. Darkness rained from the heavens and wrought fire and chaos among the innocents. The Castle itself stood strong in the rain of fire, and waves of invaders washed over its walls, but it could not last forever. In a fiery blast of horrific energy, the Castle was engulfed in flames and the faceless invaders glutted themselves on the bounty of the land. The fields burned, the houses crumbled, and an ominous orange wave of sands crept across the remains of the once proud world.

Mewtwo awoke silently in a jolt, covered in cold sweat. The inside of the blacksmith's cabin was deathly cold, the forge was still cold and the fireplace had burned down to embers and died. Jacob and the smithy were still sound asleep in their beds, and no light existed inside the entire cabin. It was still nighttime, and Mewtwo's nightmare had awoken him in the early morning hours. Despite the tragic nature of his dream, Mewtwo felt relieved. He hadn't had a single nightmare again since the fall of the Empire, and now that he was having them again, he was glad the eyes hadn't returned to torment him. In whatever time period this was, the Empire was still non-existent, and that was good enough to give Mewtwo some relief. But he was still troubled, if this new catastrophe was not the Empire's doing, than what was it that was causing it? He was still incredibly sleepy, and he chalked it off as random dreaming. After living almost six years in this world, he had become familiar with all the artistic portrayals of Hyrule, and after the visions the Medallions had bestowed on him so long ago, he could now easily recognize the sight of Hyrule. This made the dream explainable as his subconscious using the Image of Hyrule castle in his dreams, and the horrible invasion he saw was probably recurring memories of the Empire. He satisfied himself with this explanation and curled back up in his sleeping bag against the unforgiving cold and slept once more.

A different dream came to Mewtwo this time, he saw a panoramic view of Hyrule Castle, not unlike the one in his visions, and as his viewpoint moved, he heard voices. He heard a woman whispering, echoes of an unseen fear, stirring foresight that overshadowed a young dream. Sweeping across his mind, the words repeated and echoed, and yet made no sound, as they were telepathically spoken. And a sharp image suddenly appeared before him, superimposed over the Castle and surrounding landscape. It was the face of a blonde woman, looking in her mid twenties. She had blonde flowing hair and pointed ears, each from which dangled golden Triforce earrings. A golden leaved crown rested on her forehead which contained a great red ruby. A look of slight fear and fascination played upon her face before her image suddenly jerked and fluttered away like vapor in a violent wind. The image of the castle faded away, and as the dream ended, the woman's voice whispered, "Who are you?"

"Good morning sleepyhead!" Jacob's voice rang out in the dense fog of Mewtwo's sleep.

Mewtwo sat up and rubbed his eyes. The cabin was now flooded with golden morning light, and Jacob and the smith were up and aglow with activity. The salty smell of bacon and eggs hung in the air, which was now warm and comforting again. There was the sound of chirping birds outside the windows, and the sizzle of a griddle accompanied them in an almost musical fashion. It was a cheery scene in complete contrast with what Mewtwo felt like he had just fallen asleep from ten minutes ago. He didn't have time to wonder about it, breakfast was ready and Jacob and the smith weren't about to wait for Mewtwo to get up. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and walked over to the counter where the fresh meal was sitting, emitting appealing aromas.

"So, how did you sleep?" Jacob asked.

Mewtwo slowly swallowed a bite of sausage and replied, "No better or worse than usual. You?"

"Yes, same here. Now I wonder though, how can you pay me for your stay here though?" Jacob asked.

Mewtwo stopped chewing his sausage, wondering how to react to this situation. He had no money on him, and he was pretty sure that these people probably didn't have Yen as their currency either. All he had in his possession was the flute and the potions, neither of which he was willing to give up. He swallowed and sighed heavily, knowing that it was coming down to it, so he needed to give up one of the potions. He set his fork down and leaned over his knapsack. Jacob eyed him suspiciously as he set the red filled bottle on the table.

"Will this do?" Mewtwo asked.

"Normally I don't accept stolen goods…" Jacob said, and Mewtwo swallowed hard. "But we're all friends here, so it'll do."

Later, after breakfast, Mewtwo picked up his meager things and prepared to leave the cabin. Outside the blizzard had vanished and the bright sun was melting the snow. As he opened the door to leave, a thought crossed his mind and he turned to face Jacob.

"Hey Jacob, can you tell me how to get to Hyrule from here?"

Jacob looked confused as he spoke; "Hyrule? Never heard of it."

Mewtwo shrugged, trying to look casual, and bid them farewell and closed the door behind him. His mind raced for a moment as he tried to decide where to go, and the strange Northward pull finally made itself fully known to him. He inexplicably began walking North without noticing, suddenly alarmed at the familiarity of this sensation. He hadn't felt this kind of thing in his mind since Darkest had lured him to the tower with it. He almost turned South out of fear, but decided that it was best not to back down after having already gotten so far up into the mountains.

Mewtwo passed hours climbing trails up the side of Snowhead, and the sun began to lose its warmth and the snow's rate of melting slowed down the higher he climbed. It became colder and colder, and he began to shiver as the ground underneath the snow became steeper and rockier. As he neared the peak, he was about ready to turn back, but the top was so tauntingly close that his ego would not let him back down. He sucked in more gumption and continued until he reached a vertical ledge. With great strain and joint pain in his arms he pulled himself up over the ledge and looked in shock at what laid beyond.

As far as the eye could see, the entire landscape further North of Snowhead was a complete void. As he stood there at the edge of the world, Mewtwo's mind raced in fear and confusion. A slow rumble came up from the void below, sparks of green and white energy crackled through the emptiness. Glowing patches filled the air, as if the very dimensional fabric of this world were deteriorating. As he looked farther off into the distance, the holes in reality became too dense and thick to see through, it was like a forest of chaotic multicolored splashes of chaotic energy. He stared intently at this spectacle for minutes on end, trying to understand how it was possible, when a booming crack filled the air and jolted him out of his trance. Not too far away, a bolt of fluorescent orange energy jumped from one of these dimensional tears into another, discharging a large quantity of electrical and plasmatic energy and connecting the two basketball sized rifts together. Another one of these violent discharges occurred a couple miles away, letting only an ominous rumble make it to Mewtwo's ears.

Finally an idea hit Mewtwo that he guess was the explanation. By this point his existence here was creating numerous time paradoxes, including the one where he inadvertently created the grave that lead him to come to this time period in the first place. These paradoxes were extremely unhealthy for the time-space continuum, and these ruptures in the fabric of space were probably the result of his meddling. In a frightened panic, he stumbled backward and began lowering himself back down the mountain. His mind raced about possible solutions and ways to fix the damage he had done to this world, but he was too confused to think straight. The one thought that confounded him the most was that any other dimension would have completely collapsed in a violent time-space singularity from these paradoxes, and yet this world was only slowly decaying. As he climbed down his mind came closer and closer to complete panic, he almost tripped over a rock and went plummeting over a ledge in his haste. He could still practically hear the violent shocks of the dimensional rips growing and expanding.

By the time he made it back down to Jacob's smith, Mewtwo was exhausted beyod any rational thought, and he disliked the prospect of facing the rather unfriendly Jacob again. He passed the cabin by as he continued to walk South, only caring to be as far away from the dimensional rifts as possible. It was almost nightfall when he finally arrived at the edge of Termina field, and the lights from Clock Town were sparkling just as radiantly as the first time he had seen them. He found a secluded spot behind a large boulder and began trying to recall the song he had played on the Blue flute that had brought him here.

And to his horrid dismay, Mewtwo could not remember a single note of the song. The instrument felt alien in his hands, it was built for humans hands with five fingers, not his odd shaped paws. After trying and failing numerous times in disgust, he showed it back into his knapsack and sat to let his mind roil and stagnate with fear. He pondered the upcoming events, trying to guess how long it would take for the paradoxes to consume this world. He had no way of knowing, by this time tomorrow night he could be only a few molecules hovering in an unstable void. He wondered how many people lived on this planet, and how many had already been killed by his action of simply being here.

Mewtwo looked down at his hands and saw them drenched in blood. It was the blood of the scientists he killed, the blood of the young trainer that had drove him to madness, and the blood of the innocent slaves in the Imperial mine. He closed his eyes in horror, willing this vision to go away, but his imagination only showed him more blood that would spill on his behalf if he stayed much longer in this time. He felt sadness and undirected anger at his present situation, and slowly resisted the urge to go into a rage and to weep at the same time. And then, as he held his eyes closed as tightly as he could, he saw Kalana strapped down to the torture table, the black knife protruding from her stomach and tears of blood streaming down her face. He stifled a roar of pain and opened his eyes to let reality replace the horrible image, but as he slowly tried to remove the image from his mind, he saw upon his hands the blood of Kalana and the ghostly after-image of the knife that had killed her in his hands. This was all he could take. His powers came out of his control and burst forth, causing the boulder he was hiding behind to burst into purple flames. The lush grass around him suddenly wilted and the disintegrated into fine ashes. And he didn't notice that the Triforce Piece was not paining him, his mind was roiling in agony as he slowly broke down into pained yells.

And as the rage and sorrow slowly began to ebb in his mind, Mewtwo saw an image form in the back of his head. It was like a panoramic streaming video playing out privately for him. It zoomed around Termina Field and entered one of the gates of clock Town. It moved through the streets to the base of the clock tower to a set of double doors, paused, then entered. Up winding stairs and past giant rotating gears the image proceeded, until it came to stop in from of a glowing doorway. The door opened, revealing a bathing blue light that lead up into an invisible beyond. The image panned upwards to show the light, then slowly faded away into nothingness.

Mewtwo slowly regained his composure and tried to make sense of what he had seen. It was almost like directions, like someone had wanted him to go into Clock Town directly. And immediately he distrusted it. His mind flashed warnings of the remote influences that Darkest had used to lure him into the heart of the Empire, and he was on the verge of tossing this vision aside. Yet something was different this time. Every time Darkest influenced him, it left him with an ill feeling in his mind, a foreboding one might feel on the verge of some great catastrophe. Yet now the only thing he felt was an emotionless direction, almost as if fate were prodding him with a dull stick towards a pot of gold. He was mulling this over when a group of soldiers stepped around the boulder, investigating the blue flames the stone had emitted earlier.

This time Mewtwo had his wits with them, and the second he saw the guards frown with recognition he burst forth in Hylian speech.

"Do not harm me! I am not a demon! I am just a wanderer!" He said as clear as he could in these tense circumstances.

The guards were taken aback, they had never seen a demon that could talk, nor regular folk or creatures who looked such like a demon. The whispered among themselves for a moment, keeping their spears level with Mewtwo before their leader spoke.

"Who are you, wanderer, and what is your business frightening children and stealing from innocent potionmakers?"

Mewtwo fumbled with his Hylian words and replied, "I….thought that they were evil withces….and the child…..it's all a big misunderstanding!"

The guard leader looked unconvinced, but the other soldiers lowered their weapons to a degree. The leader spoke forth again, "Well, we were sent on a monster hunt, and here we find you to be a thinking sentient being. According to the Mayor of Clock Town's laws, you are instead of being caged and slaughtered to be brought in front of him, the child and his parents, and the potion makers. Come with us."

The soldiers then escorted Mewtwo back towards clock town, and as they passed through the towering gates, sparse onlookers collected and gasped in shock. They pointed, shouted, whispered, and some jeered and threw rocks at them as they passed by. By the time the guards had taken Mewtwo halfway through the city, they were followed by a procession of a couple hundred strong. Mewtwo had seen the familiar gates in the base of the clock tower, and for a moment entertained the thought of making a dash for it, but he knew he couldn't outrun the guards with his legs. They took him up to a squat, grey building that looked rather conspicuous amongst the other brightly colored and festively decorated buildings. They put him in a cell, locked it, and began to leave. The leader stayed behind and faced Mewtwo through the bars.

"Your trial will be held tomorrow at noon. You will stay here under supervision until then. If you're hungry, we have a few trays of cold gravy and mouse for you if you want it."

Mewtwo declined as politely as he could and sat back on the cot in the cell and watched as all the soldiers filed out except one, who sat himself on a stool facing away from the cell. The first priority that came to his mind was, 'How am I going to get out of here?' An hour later, his answer soon came.

The guard sitting in the stool slowly began to emit deep and nasal snores that reverberated among the iron bars of the prison cells. If there was ever a chance of escape, this was it. Fortunately for him, the guards had avoided touching him and therefore he still carried his knapsack full of potions. He quietly slipped the green potion out, pulled out the cork, and swallowed a spicy mouthful. With only a limited time and extra amount of energy, Mewtwo concentrated on the lock on his cell and turned the mechanism over. With his power. The Triforce Piece on his left hand throbbed lightly.

Mewtwo managed to creep out of the jail without waking the guard, and he found the streets completely empty in sharp contrast of only around an hour ago. Stealthily he crept around corners, through the shadows until he reached the base of the clock tower. As he approached it, his foot stepped on what felt like a pile of leaves, and suddenly these leaves jumped upward, knocking him off of his balance. What appeared to be a half man, half plant rose out of this leafy spot in the cobblestones and looked him straight in the eye. It was only around two and a half feet tall, but its eyes glowed imposingly behind a featureless wooden face and a protruding snout. It suddenly burst forth in a great yell, calling out wordlessly as if it were being stabbed or raped. Mewtwo hastily collectively struggled up and ducked through the double doors and into the interior of the clock tower.

The rush of water through pipes and channels met his ear as Mewtwo ducked under gears and other unrecognizable constructions. He swiftly followed the stair path as he remembered from his vision, knowing it was now go or get busted by the angry Terminan people. He heard no sounds of pursuers as he climbed level after level of stairs until he finally reached the door he had seen in the vision. It still glowed from under its cracks, but not nearly as intense as he had seen in his head. He reached out and grasped the iron handle, and took a deep breath before opening it.

Before him in the doorway was yet another endless seeming void, yet it was not filled with violent ruptures or discharges of energy. It was uniformly black and empty in all directions, completely beyond compare. Mewtwo balked before the doorway, hesitating to step into the free-fall and possibly into oblivion, but the sound of clanging iron boots ascending the iron stairs behind him convinced him to do or die. He drew another long deep breath, crossed two of his three fingers on one paw, and dove into the emptiness, pulling the door shut behind him.

A/N: Y'know, this chapter alone was six pages, so I guess it's not too bad that I posted it alone. Again, thanks for all your support guys, It's good to know I'm making so many people happy!


	16. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 5

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk FIVE. Can you believe it? I have had an isolated pocket of spare time between the end of the big projects and the beginning of the studying for the finals. I've got a good nine pages here this time, and you'd better enjoy it too, because as soon as exams roll around in a few days It'll be all study and no write for me.

**Chapter VII**

A child's voice echoed through the darkness, "I think it's waking up!"

Mewtwo slowly crept back to consciousness, and felt his entire body crampt up in a small cage, what felt like wood. He smelled the rich scents of the forest and children's voices whispered and shouted around him. As he opened his eyes, he saw that he was indeed imprisoned in a wooden cage, and it was barely large enough to fit him. Beyond the bars a gaggle of odd looking children, all dressed in green, were staring in at him with anxiety and expectation. One of them stepped forward and poked him in the leg with a stick, and he grunted in frustration as his limbs began to tell him that it wasn't a good thing to be boxed up like he was. The children quickly stepped back a few paces from the cage.

"What should we do with it?" One asked.

"It's a demon! We should kill it and burn it!" Another shouted.

"Let's release it back where we found it!" Yet another chimed in.

And from behind the crowd another child stepped in, she didn't stand much taller than the rest of the crowd, but her green hair was a stark contrast to everyone else's blonde and brown hair. She walked right up to the cage and looked in at Mewtwo with a discriminating eye.

"Don't get too close Saria, it might grab you!" Another child with blonde hair and a notably freckled face shouted.

"Be quiet Mido! I don't think it's dangerous. It almost looks intelligent."

Mewtwo finally snapped out of his daze and took action. "Could you kind children please release me from this box? It's rather uncomfortable."

The crowd of children gasped loudly, some stepped back, some stepped forward, but Saria just smiled.

"Sure, I'll let you out." She said, and reached down and pulled a few key sticks loose.

The whole cage flimsily fell apart and Mewtwo slowly clambered out of the pile of wood and stood. As he did, the children who seemed tall enough from the cage now were dwarfed below him, and he looked down at them curiously. They looked back up at him as those who are looking upon a newly risen god, or demon. Nobody spoke for a moment, and then Saria broke the silence.

"What's your name?" She asked.

Mewtwo stood silent for a moment before replying. When he told Saria his name, she smiled in a half frustrated way and turned to face the freckled boy named Mido.

"You see? He's not a demon! Not only does he talk, but he has a name! And you wanted to burn him! Idiot!" She said, and flashed Mido a scowl.

As the dialogue between the two children progressed, Mewtwo noticed the small white orbs dancing around their heads. They were little balls of light, and each one had a pair of iridescent wings like butterflies. His memory suddenly connected back to the boy in green he had seen inside the moon. He had dressed similarly and also had one of these odd winged things trailing him.

"What are those?" Mewtwo asked, interrupting Saria's conversation with Mido and pointing at the orb that was flitting around her head.

Saria looked up at it and smiled as if talking to an idiot. "Don't you know what fairies are?" She asked.

"He doesn't have one!" Another child piped up out of the crowd.

Saria scanned the air around Mewtwo's head and frowned as if confused.

"You don't know what a fairy is, and you don't have one! You're quite the odd fellow!" She said.

"Odd?" Mido suddenly growled, "He looks evil to me! I think we should throw him out of the forest to save ourselves the trouble!"

"Oh shut up Mido! You're always posturing all the time and making rash decisions and starting rumors!" Saria yelled.

"There's a way to settle this easily!" Another child said suddenly. He stepped up to them and spoke in an air of wisdom. "Let's take him to see the sprout!"

"Yeah! The Sprout will know!" Another child hollered from the back.

"Good idea." Saria said. "Follow me."

Before Mewtwo knew it, he was being led by the throng through the village. It gave him a chance to run his eyes over the landscape. There were hundreds of trees everywhere, trees that still seemed to be relatively young and thin, but at the same time toweringly tall. There were many little houses carved into trees and stumps everywhere around, the children must be living in them. There was a small waterfall and a pond, and the children lead him across stepping stones that crossed a small extension of the pond. Then they passed in between many tightly grouped trunks that twisted and turned so that he could not see what lied only a few feet ahead. As the passed the last corner, a sight met Mewtwo's eyes that hadn't in almost six years.

A grand and massive tree towered up through the canopy, many times larger than all the others, and on its front was a weathered old nose and two eyes. But something was different, and very very wrong. The wood was blackened, like it had been dead for months, and brown fallen leaves covered the ground around its sad face. It appeared completely devoid of life. But at the feet of its roots, a small tree sprout stood about five feet tall with a small smiling face. It was sleeping peacefully in the shadow of its predecessor, and it cocked one eye open as the procession of children approached.

"What a group of Kokiri approach me now!" the sprout said cheerfully, now opening both its eyes. "What is the occasion of this party and who is your scary looking friend?"

Saria stepped forward and spoke. "He says his name is Mewtwo, and we want you to tell us if he is a friend or foe, Deku Tree Sprout."

Mewtwo now had a clear memory reformed of when he and Kalana had met the Great Deku Tree. If this sprout was supposed to be a seedling of the great tree he had met those five years ago, then the time he traversed backwards must truly have been vast. Hyrule was a lot older than he had imagined.

"Come over here and let me look at you." The Deku Tree Sprout said to Mewtwo.

Once again the Kokiri were completely silent as Mewtwo stepped forward out of the gaggle. The Deku Tree sprout eyed him closely, and Mewtwo suddenly felt an intrusion on his mind. Suddenly realizing the direness of the situation, Mewtwo blocked the intrusion as best as he could. If this were the Sprout that would grow into the Deku Tree he had met, even being here in front of him was going to alter the time-space continuum even more, possibly worsening the paradoxes. He didn't need to let the Deku Sprout have such a glimpse into the future, or he could permanently damage or destroy the timeline of this entire dimension. The Deku Sprout's eyes narrowed in frustration as he tried with no avail to see into Mewtwo's mind.

"Why is it that you're resisting? I just want to see if you're trustworthy or not!" the sprout said in an upset voice.

"It's just that…" Mewtwo stuttered as he tried to think of an excuse. Even saying that he was from the future could damage the timeline. "I don't trust other people in my mind. I have secrets."

"Very well then, but that means that I can't trust you, and I don't expect the Kokiri to trust you either." The Sprout said, indicating the green clad children.

Mewtwo sighed, and then decided he needed to take the initiative. He sorted out a few positive images from his past in the Pokemon world that held no significance and sent them into the Deku Sprout's mind. The Sprout looked surprised but smiled a woody smile.

"So you can touch minds to? Very well then, I'll trust you." The Sprout said.

The crowd of Kokiri murmured in approval and began to disperse, and Mido pranced off growling in frustration. Saria walked up to Mewtwo as he turned to walk back to the village.

"I'm sorry we didn't get properly introduced. My name is Saria and I'm glad to have you here in the Kokiri forest."

Mewtwo smiled and as they walked out of the pasture where the sprout and dead tree stood, Mewtwo pointed at the dead tree and inquired of it.

Saria frowned as they passed through the weaving passage between trunks. "He was the Old Deku Tree. He was killed a few years ago by a wicked Sorcerer from the West named Ganondorf."

Mewtwo reeled at the recollection of the name. That was the name of the Gerudo King of Evil that all the old legends had mentioned. He remembered The Red Elder recanting the tales to him and reading about him on the inscriptions in the Spirit Temple. Soon they passed back into the village and Saria pointed to a lone stump that had a tree house carved into it.

"You can stay there if you want to. Link hasn't come back in almost a year now, and we're starting to think he won't at all." Saria said, suddenly sounding as if she were about to cry.

"Can I ask you something?" Mewtwo asked, adeptly changing the subject, "Where and how did you find me?"

"We found you lying unconscious deep out in the older more dangerous woods. I was the one who insisted we bring you here, Mido wanted to leave you for dead."

"Well I appreciate what you did along with your generous offer for hospitality, but I really should be going." Mewtwo said.

"Would you at least stay for dinner?" Saria asked.

Mewtwo's stomach grumbled loudly like a sea lion, and he smiled and nodded. "I haven't eaten in awhile, I'd be glad to." Saria grinned and lead him over to a large communal tree house where the other Kokiri were gathering. The sweet smell of roasted meats wafted out of the door and Mewtwo licked his lips.

**Chapter VIII**

After an unnaturally hushed and unenthusiastic dinner, Mewtwo asked Saria to show him out of the Forest. She led him to a hollowed out log and a bridge and told him to continue through to the other side.

"Would you come with me? You seem like such a nice kid." Mewtwo asked.

Saria shook her head and once again her facial expression was that of condescension. "If I or any other Kokiri leave the forest, we die on the spot." She said matter-of-factly.

Mewtwo contained his shock and frowned slightly. "Well, unless I find my way back home, I won't be leaving this land anytime soon. I might come back and see you again." He said warmly.

Saria smiled. "I'll look forward to it."

Mewtwo shook her hand and slowly turned to leave. He wanted to ask something more of Saria, if she knew anything of the Forest Medallion, but he hesitated as he walked through the dark and dank feeling of the hollowed out log. The wood was damp and soft to his feet, and smelled sweet with only a tad of age. He walked onward for almost fifty feet before emerging into a vast, wonderfully grassy plain. The sky was bright orange from a sunrise out on the Western horizon and the tall grasses swayed and whispered in the light breeze. Small trees were scattered across the field in an almost random pattern, and birds chirped cheerily in the pristine air. A narrow dirt road cut through the grass out into the field, forking many times and shrinking in the distance. Small hills caused the field to rise and fall gently like a breathing body as Mewtwo's eyes gazed across it. As he looked farther out in the distance, he began to scan the horizon. To the north loomed a gigantic mountain with a ring of what could be clouds or smoke encircling its peak. And to the west of the mountain a small blue pinnacle was blurred in the distance. To the direct East and South there was nothing on the horizon but the stretch of the field that met the orange sky.

"So this is Hyrule…" Mewtwo whispered to himself, "It's just as beautiful as I imagined." His memory flashed back to the dream he had a few nights ago, and again flashed to the vision he had seen when he had found the Spirit Medallion. Both of those visions were identical and matched this sprawling plain that now stood before him on the borders of twilight. And again, his thoughts turned to a way to get out of here so that the paradoxes didn't destroy this wondrous world.

Mewtwo idly strolled down the dirt path as he thought. He needed to get back to his time period, and the solution seemed so close yet so far away. The blue flute in his knapsack was the key, and yet he couldn't remember the song. He was sure that there wasn't a way to ascend the void back into the land of Termina, back where the child's grave with the songbook laid. He wondered if the heroic kid had come from this clan of Kokiri children he had just met, and if so, how had he entered Termina? Saria had mentioned something about a "Missing Link", but the term seemed nonsense to him. He didn't even realize that he was walking North as he thought. As he walked the sunset slowly disappeared over the horizon and the sky began to darken. The air chilled a bit and stars began to become visible. But because of the sheer size of the field and the slow stride Mewtwo was taking, he didn't get any closer to the mountain or the blurred blue point on the horizon.

Mewtwo's thoughts were jarred suddenly when a lone wolf howled out in the distance, signaling the passage between twilight and night. His train of thought crashed off the tracks and he shivered in the cool air. Thoughts of shelter for the night flashed into his mind and he tossed around the notion of turning back and going back to the Kokiri Village. He stopped walking to consider it when suddenly his ears caught an almost unnoticeable rustling sound from somewhere behind him. It wasn't too close, but it was close enough to alarm him. He turned and peered through the darkness. At first his eyes couldn't detect anything as they adjusted, but then he saw maybe 300 feet behind him a hunched form clawing its way up from under the ground. Two glowing eyes leveled as it stood and fixed on his. He shivered in fear and reached into his mind reflexively to charge his powers, but the Triforce in his right paw gave him a painful reminder not to. Suddenly, the shadowy figure began to hobble forward towards Mewtwo, and he heard it moaning slowly. He didn't need any more incentive to stay any longer, he burst forward in a powerful run and quickly outpaced the fiendish creature that was only limping after him.

After putting significant distance between the thing and himself, Mewtwo stopped to have a breather from all the running. He hunched over and gasped for breath as the night slowly settled around him again. He was too tired and panting too loudly to hear or feel the ground shifting under him. Slowly a clawed hand pushed its way up out of the ground and reached for Mewtwo's ankle. When he felt it grasp him, Mewtwo silently and slowly turned to look down and see a head emerging from the ground. His fear and panic exploded out of control and his powers erupted out of control. The zombie head that had scrabbled out suddenly caught a bright purple flame and it emitted a terrifying screech and let go of Mewtwo's ankle. Mewtwo's right hand was screaming in pain from the power drain like he had just dipped it into a smelting pot, and he only half noticed it as his legs rocketed him forward anew to escape the monstrosity that had grabbed him.

As Mewtwo ran and the forest sped by to his right, he did not stop to think until his body forced him to. His sides were splitting and his lungs burned from the exertion, and yet he still could not see any signs of progress of distance across the field. He shakily pulled the green potion out of his knapsack and uncorked it, prepared to take a brisk gulp when the next zombie would show his head. But as he waited, only silence and calm permeated the air. Then, as Mewtwo's heavy breathing slowly receded, he thought he heard what sounded like a stream rushing across rocks. He walked cautiously in the direction of the sound, getting closer and closer until he came upon the banks of a flowing mid sized stream which was steadily gurgling its way Northwest. It was emerging out of a large hilly area in the East and it smelled sweet and fresh like water that had just flowed down from a purifying mountain stream. The trees of the forest had ended maybe 600 feet back.

Mewtwo squatted down and took a handful of the water from the river. It was icy cold and felt pure on his hand. He then re-corked the green potion and stowed it. Using both hands to scoop water up from the river, he tasted it and found it to be pure, bracing, and a wonderful tonic to his dry mouth and throat. He then bent down even father and submerged his entire face into the water, taking greedy gulps and savoring the cleansing effect it had on his body and mind. He was rudely interrupted however, when a bony hand closed around his tail.

Mewtwo screamed into the water in surprise, fear, and pain. The bony hand was squeezing his sensitive tail like a vice and fiery pain was shooting up his backside. Without thinking, he lunged forward and dove all the way into the river. Luckily, the current was not strong and he bobbed to the surface and saw the skeletal form standing on the banks. The monstrous looking thing stared at him stupidly with its two yellow glowing eyes, and then stepped its foot into the river. What followed next was a bright display of blue flames as the spiritual energy sustaining the form was suddenly released by the essence of the river. The bones fell clatteringly to the bank and remained silent from that moment on. And the hand which had still grasped Mewtwo's tail even after being separated from its owner limply let go and floated away in the gentle slow current.

Mewtwo let out a long sigh of relief, trying to let the stress from the fear go, but by now he was beginning to become numbly cold from the frigid waters and he needed to climb out lest he contract hypothermia. He was reluctant to leave the safety of the river now though, seeing such an ample demonstration of the protection it afforded him from these things that were wandering Hyrule at night. When he was to the point of shaking violently from the cold, he crawled back up to the bank and clambered out of the water. The air around him didn't feel as chilled anymore, and his knapsack was lack a blanket on his back that was warm and welcoming. He became very sleepy as he started walking North along the bank of the river, trying to think of what to do next. His body was fatigued and the rapid temperature changes were making him drowsy. But he continued walking for almost an hour, keeping alongside the river's bank where the monsters did not bother him.

When at last a faint trace of sunrise peeked up over the trees to the East, Mewtwo was again jolted out of his trance-like state by a sound. A lone rooster crowed not too far away and suddenly a rapid scrambling noise erupted behind him. He turned and looked to see around four or five of the zombie creatures scraping holes in the ground and re-burying themselves to escape the sun. It was a jarring thought to Mewtwo that they had managed to follow him without him noticing for so long, but it was comforting to know that they would not come out in sunlight. He took off his knapsack and laid his exhausted body down onto the welcoming grass and slept by the calming sound of the cheerily flowing river.

**Chapter IX**

"Who are you?" A woman's voice echoed through the darkness, "What are you? Where are you?"

The familiar, elegant face of the crowned woman slowly faded into the dream again, looking straight into Mewtwo's mind with fear and curiosity. Mewtwo could almost feel her mind brush against his, it felt like dipping his toe into a vast ocean of wisdom and emotion. The woman's face suddenly jerked away in fear, and she disappeared into the stark blackness of the dream.

For the first time since he had left the Gerudos, Mewtwo awoke with by his own accord and without a feeling of unpleasantness in his mind or body. The sun was directly above him in the sky, and his body felt refreshed even after only sleeping around five hours. The air was just as clean and crisp as ever, the very environment seemed to have had a purifying effect on him. He yawned, stretched, and stood up. What used to be only a blue point on the Northern horizon was now visibly a spire on a tower, brilliantly colored to be so clear at this distance. And the ringed mountain loomed even taller over him as he looked to the North. He took another deep drink from the river to quell his complaining stomach, and then pulled on his knapsack and proceeded to walk North again.

As he walked he finally held a grain of certainty about his course in this time period. He knew he could no longer return to his time period easily, the way back to Termina was most definitely closed and the people would lynch him on sight if he did go back. His anxiety at following the Northward pull was now gone as well, it seemed to only reasonable path to follow. He could not remain idle and he could not turn back, so he followed the only course that lay ahead. He walked and walked for a good portion of the day. But he was stopped by his curiosity when he stumbled into a wooden sign that was scrawled with simple Hylian Script.

"Beware of….Pea Hats?" Mewtwo read aloud, wondering what in the world the sign meant. Maybe it was warning him to put peas in his hat? He continued along the path shrugging off the oddity. Maybe he hadn't read it right? He dismissed all thoughts of it as he continued.

As he reached the top of a larger than average hill, Mewtwo had a good view further out across the field. He could see a good portion of the Castle now, and he recognized it as the legendary Hyrule Castle that housed the Royal Family that presided over the land. He stopped to stare in wonder, the scale of the castle must be grand if it was so clear from this distance. Then a sudden ripping sound tore his eyes from the castle to a point at the bottom of the hill that he was standing on. What appeared to be a giant brown plant the size of an elephant was uprooting itself and hovering in the air. As it fully emerged, blades about three feet long protruded around its circumference and whirled like a helicopter. It then sped through the air toward him menacingly.

Mewtwo was again surprised out of his wits by the strange creatures of this land, he ducked back behind the hill and pulled out the green potion as quick as he could. He popped the cork off and swallowed 2 large mouthfuls. The spicy taste zinged down his throat and energized him. Just as he re-corked the bottle the helicopter-plant whooshed over the top of the hill above him and adjusted its course to come after him.

Mewtwo needn't think twice about his next action, he formed a gigantic, weightless energy blade and dodged to the side as the plant whizzed by. He put his sword in its path and cleanly cleaved it in half. The plant fell to the ground with a sickening wet splut and shuddered a few times before falling silent. Mewtwo approached the dead plant slowly and poked it with his rapidly fading energy sword. It did not respond, so he let the sword fade away to nothing as the green potion quickly dissipated in his system. He eyed the blades that the plant was armed with, and decided that he should finally carry a solid weapon with him for protection. With only half his green potion left, he would definitely need to arm himself with a more reliable weapon. Cautiously, he gripped the strange blade on its dull side and yanked as hard as he could. The blade resisted at first, but after three more pulls it loosened out of the joint that held it and slid out. It was embedded in the plant's body a lot deeper than it appeared, and two more feet of bone-like material slid out covered in green slime.

Mewtwo nearly dropped the blade in disgust, and quickly carried it over to the river where he washed every trace of the sap off of it. He then used it to cut a small slit in the bottom of his knapsack and stuck it in there as a scabbard.

Mewtwo continued walking the rest of the day, and as night began to fall his body complained with fatigue and sleep hovered on his eyelids. But the frightful faces of the night Zombies reared up in his memory and he decided to stay up through the night and keep walking. He remembered the trudge through the desert that he and Kalana had made so many years ago, and he could certainly do it again. And now he wasn't even going half as quick as he and Kalana had traveled, so it needn't bee to tiring. But as the lone wolf howled again at twilight's passing his body steadily ached and his eyes became leaden. He was jolted out of this sleepiness quickly though, when the familiar sound of the zombies crawling up out of the ground met his ears. Their yellow eyes reappeared and woke him anew into refreshed haste.

Mewtwo stopped occasionally that night to rest in the frigid waters of the river. The safety it afforded him allowed him to relax his tense muscles and to drink deeply again from the life giving waters. Only when he became dangerously cold did he pull himself out of the water to trudge on. The night passed slowly and agonizingly, and this time he was sure to check behind him before ever slowing his pace or stopping to rest. Most of the time he found the zombies following him, but the few occasions peace afforded him some time, he took it eagerly. By now his stomach was gnawing with agonizing hunger.

When the sun finally did rise in the sky with the rooster's crow, Mewtwo saw that he was very close to the Castle now. He could see the great drawbridge only a mile away. But he put the intentions of entering the Castle aside for the night, he was too exhausted to go on any longer. He laid down again in the soft grass as the zombies clawed their way back underground.

A/N: Yep yep yep, after nearly 170 pages of writing and 40 chapters, Mewtwo has finally entered Hyrule itself. But what will happen when he reaches the castle? What will they think of him? And how long will I be studying for finals? The answer my friends, will be coming in only a few weeks. Remember folks, Reviews + Me Happy Me and Faster writing!


	17. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 6

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk SIX. Can you believe it? I'm actually finding time enough to write this even between all the studying for exams! I'm very happy that such stressful things as the finals aren't deterring me from continuing to write what I love. I really enjoy writing this, and getting reviews is even more wonderful. Can you imagine, if I'm thins industrious now, how well and fast I'll write after the finals are over?

**Chapter X**

"Who are you?" the woman insisted forcefully again, her face scrunched in anger and effort.

"I..." Mewtwo thought, and his mind slowly receded out of the dream. He awoke with a start, the sun was setting already. He had slept through most of the day, and Hyrule Castle was tauntingly close, the drawbridge open and inviting. His stomach roared in agonizing hunger, and he walked over to the river to fill it with water.

It was twilight by the time Mewtwo stood at the foot of the drawbridge. The pull on his senses was yelling at him to proceed inside, and his common sense yelled at him not to. As he stood in front of the drawbridge, the lone wolf howled in the distance as night settled over the land. And as if synchronized with a cue, the wooden drawbridge suddenly jerked upwards and lifted up into a closed position. Mewtwo swore silently in his mind and drew his plant bone blade out of his knapsack. And almost as a reply, the zombie creatures clawed their way up out of the ground yet again. Their yellow ghoulish eye sockets glowed just as menacingly as before, but Mewtwo was no longer afraid of them this time around. During his five years with the Gerudos, they had trained him to be a fine swordsman with solid blades. It had taken him years of practice to accustom his weak arms to lifting solid physical blades, and they had grown muscular and toned instead of stringy and thin. As the zombies approached him, he took a deep breath and lifted his arms up and down to stretch them before strenuous use. And as the first of the creatures ran up and charged at him, he began his deadly swordplay.

The hunched creature dashed at him blindly, and Mewtwo sidestepped and lopped its head off. The head rolled to the ground and the body simply wandered off in another direction, bumping into other zombies. Mewtwo turned and slashed the arms off of another undead beast and then kicked it in the chest, sending every bone flying in a different direction. The then swept his blade along the ground, cutting off the feet of a third zombie. It fell face first in the soil and began grabbing at Mewtwo's ankles. Mewtwo dragged the blade across the ground and diced the monster's arms off as well. He then took off its head too with a final stroke. The yellow glowing eyes fell dark and the bones became permanently dormant.

The initial three creatures had been disposed of easily, and Mewtwo sighed and wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. A momentary pause followed, and the cool night breeze was very refreshing. It was soon interrupted though, there were more faint dragging sounds as another group of the zombies crossed the crest of a hill. Eight of them were in that group, and an additional three climbed up out of the ground behind him next to the moat.

Mewtwo smiled at their poor choice of an area to attack. He raised his blade and charged at them, and struck all three of them at once with the blunt edge of his blade. They fell backwards together into the water of the moat and disintegrated as the waters released their spirit energy from their Earthly bounds. Mewtwo turned and saw the other eight were now limping toward him as fast as they could, their eyes glowing hungrily. He brought his blade level and waited until they got close enough to strike. Mewtwo swung in an X pattern and made cross sections out of the first two Zombies that approached him, and then spun around in a circle, halving another three. The remaining three managed to get close enough to strike him, one of them lunged forward and slashed Mewtwo's side with sharp claws. The wound was shallow but long.

Mewtwo grunted in pain and anger, his vision began to take on a shade of red as his blood rushed with the excitement of battle. He turned and skewered the monster that had slashed him, but the creature only reached out and clawed him on his left arm. Mewtwo shouted more in anger than pain, and kicked the creature off of his sword with a mighty blow. Bones flew individually in all directions. And suddenly, the arm of one of the fallen creatures grasped his foot and pulled him down. He fell over backwards felt a dull pain as a bone blunted his back. Another of the fiends rushed up to him and swiped, but Mewtwo raised his blade and caught the blow. He then kicked it with both of its legs and it was soon in pieces scattered across the ground. Mewtwo then kicked his feet forward, pulling himself upward in one simple motion, and diced the remaining monster with four strokes. It fell to the ground in a pile of dust and bones.

Mewtwo felt the bleeding gashes on his body and winced, they weren't severe but would become a painful hindrance if the fighting were to continue. And there were a few of the creatures still maintaining an animated state on the ground, not injured badly enough to die again. He quickly brushed their twitching bodies into the water of the Castle's moat and the brilliant blue flame erupted again as the unfortunate souls flew free. Yet another moment of peace fell upon the field as Mewtwo breathed heavily and nursed his injuries. When none of the creatures came after five minutes, Mewtwo cautiously set his blade down and opened his knapsack. He pulled out the blue potion and was about to uncork it when a new sound crept across the still grasslands.

Another of the zombie creatures climbed up the zenith of a hill. It was gigantic, nearly seven feet tall and bulkily large. It dragged its rotting bony feet across the grass and approached Mewtwo with baseball sized glowing eyes. Mewtwo wasn't surprised that this kind of thing could happen, the land of Hyrule had surprised him again and again every time he had become complacent, and this new beast was only a bigger and slower form of its fellows. Mewtwo closed his knapsack and picked up his sword again, and faced the hulking monster. As his eyes met with its, the creature let out a bone shaking bellow and rushed forward. Mewtwo stood on the tips of his toes as the monster held its fists high up into the air, preparing to smash him into the ground like an ant.

As the crushing blow fell, Mewtwo lunged forward and swung as hard as he could at the beast's legs. The bone blade clanged and vibrated loudly as it struck the bone, completely deflected off of the polished enamel. The beast looked dumbly down at Mewtwo as one who looked at a ghost that had just appeared out of nowhere. It then swung its fist down and brushed Mewtwo's tail. Mewtwo was knocked back between the creature's feet and rolled to the ground in agony. His sensitive tail screamed and sent waves of pain up his back, and the scar left by Darkest's collar suddenly throbbed again. He laid almost completely incapacitated for a few moments as the hulking monster turned and looked down at him.

Mewtwo shook off his feeling of creeping malaise and jumped back up to his feet to meet the monster's next punch with his blade. The blade vibrated violently from stress and the force of the blow pushed Mewtwo backwards, nearly ripping tendons in his ankles. His blade was bent just a slight bit, and would probably break if hit with another blow like that. Mewtwo jumped backwards and followed the last course of action he could see, he implemented his powers suddenly and swiftly. The Triforce piece on the back of his hand caught aflame of pain anew as Mewtwo used the energy to propel himself in a high jump. He landed lightly on the monster's shoulders and kicked the exposed vertebrae of its neck and hacked at them until the creature's head creaked and fell of.

The beast reeled and wobbled, but it did not fall dormant or fall apart. Its head simply lay still on the ground while the body began stumbling around the area dumbly, literally like a headless chicken, only ten times bigger. Mewtwo jumped down from its shoulders and grabbed the head which was the size of a human's basketball. He ran over to the moat and tossed the head in. He heard a crash behind him as the body suddenly fell into itself, and the bright blue flames erupted forth from the water again.

Mewtwo was tired and sore now from the blows that the giant beast had dealt out, and no longer felt like fighting anymore. The silence that laid back down over the field would have given him a chance to think if it had lasted longer, it was interrupted promptly yet again. But not by a scrabbling of zombies or shuffling of giant feet, a lone voice cried out from on top of the outer castle town walls.

"Ho there! Be you man or beast, answer now!" The voice cried in Hylian. Mewtwo jolted and turned to face the wall, seeing a large group of armor clad Hylian soldiers gathered and watching him from the top of the wall. He needn't any reason not to answer them as loudly and quickly as he could, a few of them had arrows knocked at the ready and pointed down at him.

"Hello! I am Mewtwo, and I have come wandering in this land! Might you let me into town?" Mewtwo shouted in Hylian, dredging up the memories of his completed lessons.

"We will open the gates, but come not farther than the gate house before we inspect you personally, or you will be shot!" the guard shouted.

With a suddenly groan and rumble, and drawbridge rumbled down and thumped open. Mewtwo hastily ran inside, over the wooden door and onto rough cobblestones. The wall arched squarely up over him and the gate house stood only a few feet in front of him. As he stopped in front of it, the drawbridge groaned again as it was raised and closed behind him. Mewtwo looked on into the Castle Town past the gate house and saw empty cobblestone streets, lined with squatting houses and colorfully decorated shops. The guards marched down a staircase from the top of the wall and surrounded him. They scrutinized him from top to bottom, and some sighed and shook their heads in disapproval. One of them could not stop staring directly at Mewtwo's horns. His frightened eyes showed easily through his helm.

"Tell me wanderer, why is it that you look so demonic?" The guard leader asked, stepping forward.

"Trust me by my words, I am not a demon. I was born to look this way." Mewtwo nearly gagged on the word 'born', it brought back a sour reminder that he was not a natural being and all the pain that came with this set of thoughts.

"Well, it is obvious you're not a demon by the way you speak, and your skills with the sword would match those of our best fighters, but how can we be sure you're not a bandit or a thief, or if you're not working for the Gerudos?" The guard leader said pryingly.

Mewtwo's ears perked at mention of the Gerudos. His memories flashed back momentarily to Hadara, Indiru, Ruru, and Kalana. But in this time period, the Gerudo ancestors were in a unified tribe and at war with the Hylians. He held back his urge to declare loyalty to the Gerudos, they probably would not recognize him now anyway and he would just get locked up.

"I only have these few things with me, my potions and a plant's blade. I come seeking shelter and food, I've been traveling across the field for days now."

"You've been traversing the field afoot?" The lead guard asked, his interest sparked. "You must definitely not be familiar with our land. Nobody in their right mind here travels Hyrule Field alone, without a horse, and without food! Come now, there's a poorhouse we can put you in for the night, and there is some extra food you can have."

Mewtwo thanked the guards prolifically and followed them through the dark streets to a small building at the corner of the main square. They gave him a room, extra food, and bandages for his wounds. He thanked them again as they left, and felt secure and happy for the first time again in many days. He devoured the mediocre porridge as if it were golden roasted turnkey basted in the finest sauce, and knew it was probably the best tasting food he had ever eaten. Then, after bandaging his cuts, he sat idly on the bed and found it hard to sleep.

Over his travels, Mewtwo had slowly started turning nocturnal again, and the consequences were obvious now as he spent an hour trying to sleep in the dark room. The bed was softer and more welcoming than the field grasses, and yet he just felt awake. He spent an hour idling, trying to remember the flute song, sitting and thinking. When sleep finally did come to him, it was only when he was sure that it was only a few hours away from sunrise. It was good to know that the Hylian people were this kind and generous though, and that thought alone was enough to finally pacify his mind.

**Chapter XI**

"Who are you?" The familiar voice shouted at Mewtwo yet again, repeating itself. But slowly, as he awoke from the mists of sleep, the voice morphed into that of a younger girl and became sharp and clear in reality's air. And a blast of cold water ran over his face.

Mewtwo opened his eyes and gasped in shock. Before him stood a girl, appearing to be 9 years old, whose face matched that of the woman he had seen in his sleep. She wore the same jeweled crown and her blonde hair was hidden in an odd looking hat with the Triforce inscribed on it. She was completely and totally identical to the woman who had prodded his mind in his sleep. She looked down at him lying on the bed with a scowl and tossed the cup aside.

"Well, I hear that you speak and have proven yourself to not be a demon, so let's hear it again! Tell me, who are you and why are you here?" The girl snarled at him.

Mewtwo sat up, still fumbling with the correct Hylian words under this sudden pressure. "My…name is Mewtwo." He said feebly. He couldn't believe the willpower that this little girl held. Her very presence was humbling and made him feel low.

"I see, so you can talk." She said, calming significantly. Her anger faded into a seemingly emotionless demeanor. "Now then, why have you been prying into my mind all of the time? And why have you come to Hyrule?"

Mewtwo couldn't make up any answers to appease this strong will personality, so he began to tell his story in its entirety. As he recanted his tale to her, he wondered what kind of position she had in Hylian society and what she would think of him after he told her of his violent past. She pulled up a chair and stared at him intensely as he relayed the story in as much detail as his imperfect memory would yield. They spent a good hour like this, and by the time Mewtwo finished, all traces of the girl's irritation were gone. As Mewtwo spoke the last word, the girl reached out and grabbed his right arm. She brought his right hand up to her face and saw the Triforce piece in his hand.

"So it is true." She said. "Link, the Hero of Time, has died." The girl said quietly. She let go of Mewtwo's arm and turned around to put her face in her hands and weep.

The mention of the Hero of Time was the most stunning mind jolt Mewtwo had had in years. The tales of the Hero had never once mentioned his name, now it turned out to be Link. And he had caused Link's death, what kind of irreparable damage to the timeline had he done? The evil King had already been defeated by this point in Hylian history, but now he realized that his presence and actions now held more consequences than he ever could have imagined. When he returned to his own time, mostly likely he would not even be able to recognize it, if the time-space fabric even survived. His need to leave this time was becoming severely dire. The girl stifled her crying and turned to face him. Tears streaked her face and made spots in the beautiful royal dress she was wearing.

"Are you the Princess of Hyrule?" Mewtwo asked, remembering more of the tales.

"Yes, my name is Zelda."

Mewtwo reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Link died courageously in a valiant effort to save my life."

"And he has left you a bigger gift than you realized. That is the Triforce of Courage you have in your hand now, it is the symbol of the Hero of Time. If Link passed it on to you as he died, then you've been blessed with a great burden and a great gift. With each Triforce piece comes the power of the gods, and the responsibility to take up the charge of a great hero. The Triforce of Courage tests one's mind and will by cutting your magical abilities, it sharpens your senses, reflexes, and makes you less dependant on your power. That is the reason you have had trouble using your abilities." Zelda said. "I have a piece of the Triforce as well. It is the Triforce of wisdom, and it is the mark of a just, wise ruler who brings peace and prosperity to the land. And it is also the mark of a great mage, whose countless years of knowledge in the arts of magic can bring forth great power. And somewhere in the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf still possesses the Triforce of Power; The Triforce piece that, without its two fellows, drives one to insanity and to lust for more power."

"Have the three pieces ever been united?" Mewtwo asked.

"Not by any mortal man, they were found in the Sacred Realm together as a whole, but when Ganondorf touched them, they separated and have been apart since."

"I wondered why it was that I felt such a need to come North." Mewtwo thought aloud. He held his right hand up, and as did Zelda. The two Triforce pieces suddenly glowed brightly and pulled at each other. Mewtwo pulled back suddenly, breaking the connection and the glowing ended.

"The two pieces with to unite, for each piece is only a part of a whole and they are incomplete without each other. Individually they are powerful, but the sum is hundreds of times greater than the parts. I believe that destiny is acting through them, and now through you." Zelda said.

"But something bothers me," Mewtwo said, "When I saw you in my sleep, I saw you as an adult. And here you stand as a child, also wise beyond many elders it seems. How is this so?"

"Appearances can be deceiving my friend. The instrument that Link was carrying is the Ocarina of Time. It is by this that Link and I have traveled through time many times. If I were to count all the years I've experienced as a conscious mind only, I'd be twenty four. Yet because of all the time travel, my body has remained that of a child. And when we touched minds, we saw the other's true minds. When you saw mine, you saw me as my conscious age. And when I saw you…..I saw a being literally divided into two parts, resonating elemental evil and good. That is why I hesitated to truly link with you."

Mewtwo was really disturbed by what Zelda had said. He knew what would happen if he was ever to be split, and he was sure he could prevent it no matter what the cost. But if his true mind was still divided as Zelda had said, the simple possibility of his dark said being set free deeply shook his security.

"You suddenly look pale, is something wrong?" Zelda asked.

"I'm afraid…" Mewtwo said, his mind blurring between recollections and dreams, "I've concretely decided to never allow the darker side of myself to be set free in physical form, but if what you say is true….it may come to pass some day. And…..I had a dream when I was back in Termina. A dark dream where all the land was destroyed or devoured…..and suddenly it makes sense." Mewtwo whispered.

Zelda looked at him intently. "What? You have had a dream like that as well?"

Mewtwo looked into her eyes suddenly, hoping that she had not seen what he had. "Yes……but….is that significant?"

"I've…always had symbolic dreams. Often times my dreams have been premonitions, warning me of disasters or beautiful times to come. And…..I've been having nightmares recently, where Hyrule was invaded from the sky and gutted until nothing remained."

Mewtwo's mind was now paralyzed with fear. Part of him was screaming "No!" hundreds of times and panicking wildly, while another side simply nodded silently. It all seemed to fit together, if the legends were still intact within the tattered time-space continuum, this would be the point in Gerudo records where all contact with the Hylians was lost forever, assumably the time of the coming of the Empire.

A/N: Dunn dunn duuunnnnn! The time-space continuum and the plotline are both becoming seriously twisted. What will happen next? Who knows! History is being altered with every new person Mewtwo meets, so it is very possible that we might be seeing some amazing things coming in the next few chapters! And I also do believe that we will have many more than just 10 chunks this time around as well. And see, your reviews did help me write much faster!


	18. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 7

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk SEVEN. Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! School is owt! Wh00tx10000000! Now guess what all, it's marathon writing time for me! I'm'a gonna dedicate at least a quarter of every day to my writing from now on, unless other circumstances interfere. And here in this chunk, we're making the chunks longer again! Getting' back to the traditional posting method of the good ol' days. And with this chunk, we exceed a total of Fifty pages for Part III! Partay!

**Chapter XII**

"I became the full fledged Queen of Hyrule less than a year ago." Zelda said.

Mewtwo and Zelda were walking through the courtyard of Hyrule Castle, across the lush grass, past stunning statuary, and between great hedges. The patrolling guards bowed as they passed.

"When Ganondorf killed Harkinian, my father, I was his only child. My mother had already died a long time ago and I am now the last member of Hyrule's Royal Family." Zelda finished.

"That's a heavy responsibility, ruling this entire Kingdom alone." Mewtwo said.

"It has been difficult, but I have been able to take up my father's torch fairly well. But with link gone, and what with the tidings your story has brought to light, I'm not sure if I can go on." Zelda said, her calm demeanor deteriorating. It was a sight to see such mature and deep emotion on such a young face.

"It's still only a theory," Mewtwo said. "Unless there is some event in my future that will cause my destiny to fly out of my control, there is no way I would ever allow myself to split."

"That is what worries me, no-one can ever fully control their own destiny, and some things can be inevitable." Zelda said, her voice nearly a croak.

Mewtwo walked silently, knowing she was right but rejecting it with voracious fear. He was desperate to prevent his evil from escaping, and he was willing to do anything to prevent it. Then, he caught upon an idea that both chilled him to the bone and relieved him. If he were to end his own life, quickly and before anything should happen, he could prevent Darkest from ever existing. He suddenly felt calmed, and his heart felt cold and less lively. His emotions all quieted at once, all reasons in his mind agreed that it would be the only way to be sure with cold apprehension. His entire body felt icy, as if death were already gripping him. The cool twilight air added to this effect and the stars shining down on the open courthouse seemed to scrutinize him ruthlessly. He craned his neck upwards and stared at them, studying them and wondering if he might see them again in such detail. And as he stared, his eye caught sight of movement in the distant sky.

It was a dark shape in the sky, only visible as stars passed out of view as it moved in front of them and others appeared as it passed them by. Mewtwo blinked and stared intently, the object was moving agonizingly slow, and it was extremely hard to see even to his eyes, but it was like a big red flag to Mewtwo. He stopped walking and stood staring.

"What is it, what do you see?" Zelda asked. She craned her neck in the same general direction as Mewtwo and looked hard, but saw nothing.

"Something is moving far off in the sky, possibly on the border of the planet's atmosphere in orbit." Mewtwo said, pointing at the moving blob.

Zelda followed Mewtwo's hand, but her eyes were not as fine tuned as his, and she could still not see anything. Then, it became quite clear to her when the object suddenly lit up brightly, emitting a pulse of light. As they watched, the light seemingly hung in the same general area of the sky, but then it slowly picked up speed and descended. It reached a stunning velocity and rocketed down towards Hyrule like a great comet. They heard a great roar as the ball of red light grew to the size of a trailer house before it collided with the field a few miles out. The ground shook violently under them and a great roaring explosion filled the air with such a sound that the very air shook.

As the rumbling stopped, Mewtwo and Zelda sprinted out of the courtyard and out onto the high hill that Hyrule Castle held right above the town. They saw a gigantic fuming crater almost three miles out into the field, smoke and dust billowed up into the air in a great plume. The Earth had been thrown back violently but only for a short distance, as if the impact was not of a solid object. The Castle town below was now completely lit up and citizens were running out into the street to see what had happened.

"Look!" Zelda shouted, and pointed up into the sky.

Mewtwo looked up and saw another pulse of light form and begin to move out of the sky. It gained speed and moved off, but did not rocket toward Hyrule, it disappeared far away across the Horizon in the West. Only a slight rumble reverberated through the Earth.

"Quickly! We must go the the Temple of Time!" Zelda shouted.

Zelda grabbed Mewtwo's arm and sprinted down towards the town, and as they made their way, another pulse fell to the Earth even farther away. There was almost no concussion of any kind from the distant impact. As they reached the streets of the town, Mewtwo took another look up at the object in the sky, expecting a blast to come raining down on the town at any instant. But instead he saw the object start to move. It took on a faint red glow and gained speed itself, moving away. With a sudden blue flash, it streaked through the sky and dematerialized into the night. Zelda didn't even see it as she dragged him towards an old looking church-like temple.

White washed marble glinted and glowed brilliantly in torchlight as Zelda and Mewtwo passed through the Temple. Mewtwo looked in wonder at three glowing gems set in a great pedestal, but his stare was cut short as Zelda led him pas thbem and through a door. The next room opened up panoramically into a circular chamber with a gently ascending staircase that rose to a pinnacle in the center of the room. Mewtwo saw embedded in the center of the room a familiar Blue Handled blade, the Master Sword that Ciela had slain Darkest with. It stood nobly, half embedded in the stone as a paramount testament to time. Zelda strode past the sword intently to the end of the room, where another stone platter stuck out of the wall. There rested another series of familiar sights, all of the elemental Medallions were set into the stone in a circle. Mewtwo recognized all of them except one, which was an even brighter shade of gold and held the Hylian symbol for "Light" Zelda stopped in front of the Medallions and placed her hand in the center of the circle that they formed.

"The Light beckons, let this sage and trusted companion enter the eternal chamber." Zelda said in quiet Hylian, and Mewtwo almost couldn't understand it, it was almost a different dialect.

And in response, all six Medallions began to glow brightly their respective colors. They glowed brighter and brighter until they were almost blinding, and then a small blue portal formed.

"Come with me here, we are going to the Chamber of Sages." Zelda said.

She stepped into the portal and Mewtwo held his breath before following. By now, his use of portals had always brought him somewhere strange, beautiful, or dangerous, and he could never tell which. But he trusted Zelda, and hopped through the glowing light finally with enough gumption to toss aside his momentary fears.

**Chapter XIII**

The trickling sound of running water resonated out of blue emptiness, the Chamber of Sages glowed a soft azure hue. Zelda and Mewtwo appeared on a large rotunda that jutted up out of the blue expanse of the borders of the Sacred Realm. Enlarged symbols of all the Elemental Medallions encircled the platform, and in the center was the Hylian symbol for "Time" There Zelda stood, waiting patiently for a moment.

"Sages of the Elements, come forth!" Zelda blared unexpectedly, and the chamber remained quiet for a moment.

A moment later, a sudden flash of white light appeared over the circle that was inscribed with the "Light" symbol. The flash steadied into a blinding glow and then took on shape. It formed into that of a man, and as the light faded, his form became clearer until he was fully formed. There stood a wise, old, and somewhat large man wearing a great orange robe. He had a long grey beard and a bald head, and his sleeves were tied as if he had no hands.

"Zelda, why is it that you have summoned us?" The man asked in a booming voice.

"Venerable Rauru, I fear Hyrule is in peril. Just moments ago three bolts of wrath fell from the heavens and struck the Earth. Two impacted quite a distance away, and one hit Hyrule Field only a few miles from the castle." Zelda explained.

"What do you believe to have done to anger the gods besides bringing this subdued demon into the Chamber of Sages?" Rauru asked while looking at Mewtwo like a dirty animal.

"I am not a demon!" Mewtwo said, raising his voice. He was beginning to get tired of being thought of this way. His anger seemed to have formed out of nowhere, and Rauru looked taken aback.

"Please excuse his insolence honorable Light sage!" Zelda said, suddenly very humbled in her demeanor.

"By Farore!" Rauru gasped, "You certainly aren't what you appear to be, but by what mother were you born so?"

"I was not born, but created by-" Mewtwo began before getting cut off by Rauru.

"Created! You have come from the gods themselves! Tell me, what is the news?" Rauru asked eagerly.

Mewtwo kept his startled mind in order and was about to explain what was happening when another light flashed through the air. Blue light formed above the Hylian symbol for "Water" and formed into one of the strangest beings Mewtwo had ever seen. What appeared was half child, half fish. Her skin was pale blue-white and glistening with dark blue patches. She had human features along with fins sprouting from her wrists and feet.

"I felt the explosions through the water and came as-" The fish girl trailed off as here eyes landed on Mewtwo. "Zelda, are you off your rocker bringing something like that in here?"

"Ruto I can assure you that-" Zelda began

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm not a demon." Mewtwo finished in an annoyed tone.

Ruto stood flabbergasted for a moment. "Well then, I guess you're not demonic after all."

Two more flashes of light appeared, one ofver the "Fire" Symbol, and one over the "Forest" Symbol. A familiar girl in green appeared first, and Mewtwo was surprised and happy to see Saria appear. He began to form a sentence to greet her, but the other light took on form and shape before he could speak. It grew into an even stranger sight than Ruto, a gigantic muscular body formed, along with a great girth of a belly.  
The whole thing was orange-ish brown and a weathered, stretched face with beady black eyes that was adorned with a craggy beard that merged with his hair.

"We saw and felt the entire event from Death mountain. I-" Once again, speech was interrupted by the sight of Mewtwo. The brown goliath moved quickly, forming his hands into a ball and raising them for a crushing blow.

"Stop!" Shouted Saria, rushing in between the hulking man and Mewtwo's smaller form. "He's not evil!"

"Does he speak?"

"Yes." Mewtwo said, his anger drained away quickly from the enormous boulder fists hovering over his head.

"Really Darunia, you need to learn to think before you act." Zelda said, frowning and pulling Darunia's meaty fists down from the air.

"I'm sorry my friend," Darunia said to Mewtwo, "Your appearance is most decidedly deceiving."

Then another light formed in the air, a purple glow that formed over the Symbol for "Shadow". Mewtwo suddenly felt disquietly nervous. The light formed into a tall, slender, muscular woman who wore a dark bodysuit. He short, hair was pure silver in color and in a bun, and she had red paint stripes on her cheeks. She stood without speaking, eying everyone in the room.

"Well, aren't you going to accuse me of being a demon?" Mewtwo asked irritably.

"Seeing as you just spoke, I would hope not. Trust me, after spending so much time guarding the inner chambers of the Shadow Temple, I know evil well. You have yours very well contained."

Mewtwo was impressed and a bit intimidated by this woman's insight, but Zelda was mildly irritated. "Impa, you're always so blunt about everything. You always have been. You need to learn some proper manners." Zelda said tritely.

"You're telling your own attendant and a fellow Sage how to act?" Impas asked with a smile. Darunia chuckled.

And finally, a darker orange light appeared above the remaining symbol, "Spirit". It formed into a tanned Gerudo woman wearing traditional clothes and an Elder's gem on her forehead. She appeared to be the same age Kalana had been when Mewtwo knew her, and her face was oddly familiar. Then Mewtwo remembered the ghostly specter that had directed him and Kalana to find the Spirit Medallion in the Spirit Temple. It was Nabooru, living and breathing right there in front of him.

"Why is it that you Hylians have brought that creature in here?" Nabooru snapped, backing into a fighting stance.

"He is a sentient being, and his name is Mewtwo. I think he knows about the stars that fell down from the heavens." Zelda said, raising her voice and scowling at Nabooru. The tension between the two was practically tangible in the air.

"Why don't you two put your wasteful war behind yourselves so we can discuss the matters at hand?" Rauru boomed. Zelda and Nabooru silently faced away from each other.

"Now Zelda, why don't you and your friend relay your thoughts on this matter so we can agree on a course of action?" Rauru asked in a calmer voice.

Mewtwo and Zelda calmly explained everything, being careful not to let Nabooru know anything that might further damage the Time-Space continuum. The explained the dreams, theories, and some of the courses of action that they had already begun to develop in their heads. As they finished, the other six sages looked troubled as they mulled over what they had heard and thought of what to do next.

"If these invaders are as powerful with magic as you have said, then we need to find a way to defend against powerful magic attacks." Rauru said, rubbing his rather large chin.

"Zelda, I humbly ask that you let the Gorons move to the safety of Hyrule Castle during the invasion. Our alliance does state that we should provide each other shelter in times of need." Darunia said.

"You needn't ask my friend! You and your brothers are always welcome. But be sure to bring your own rocks, we don't have any lying around the castle for you and your people to eat." Zelda replied. Mewtwo scratched his head in awe, the Goron people ate rocks?

"And what of the Zoras? Surely you will allow us to stay in the castle as well?" Ruto asked.

"Of course!" Zelda said eagerly, then pausing. "But, your people will he hard pressed to stay hydrated, there are only two small swimming pools in the Castle."

"We will manage." Ruto said, taking on an air of determination.

Zelda turned to Saria and spoke next. "I will worry about you and the rest of the Kokiri, the forest will not provide much protection for you and you cannot leave it. Might you stay here in the Chamber of Sages?"

"There is no point, if they are as powerful as you have said, they will surely find a way in here as well. The Deku Guardian will protect us as best as he can." Saria said, fear evident in her face.

"I will call a truce with Hyrule," Nabooru interrupted, speaking airily and in a superior tone, "If indeed what you have spoken is true and these invaders are a common foe. But our fortress in the desert is much safer than your extravagant castle and not one of my people will leave the desert for any reason."

"It is fine by me, I don't need any thieves or spies in my castle during a hostile invasion anyway!" Zelda snarled.

"Would you two end this ridiculous quarrelling!" Rauru bellowed like an angry leviathan, "It is vital for us to work together for the common cause in this type of situation! I do not care how many Gerudos and Hylians have died in your wars, but I do know that all of their deaths will have been in vain if all of us are killed at the hands of these invaders!"

The room was silent for a moment. Impa sneezed and Saria jumped, startled.

"I want something better than a truce," Rauru began again; "I want the old Gerudo-Hylian Alliance restored!"

"That's ridiculous!" Nabooru shouted, "My people would skin me like a leever if I did that! Their distrust and hatred towards Hyrule makes even a truce difficult!"

Rauru sighed deeply and walked over to Nabooru, who took on a look of confusion at his lack of a reply. He gestured to Mewtwo to approach and placed one hand on Nabooru's forehead and one hand on Mewtwo's. Mewtwo suddenly felt his memories being accessed, it was like his mind was a filing cabinet and Rauru was flipping through it. Then his darkest memories of the Empire were drawn out and accessed, and suddenly Nabooru's face blanched to a white paler than any sheet. Rauru's face looked grave as he too witnessed the horrifying images from Mewtwo's mind. Nabooru suddenly tried to pull away, but Rauru's large hand gripped her head and held it in place. She whimpered and panted, beginning to sweat, and suddenly it was over. Mewtwo felt the probe recede from his mind as Rauru released both of them. He observed Nabooru emotionlessly.

"So much pain!" Nabooru whispered, sickened by what she had seen. She looked over at Mewtwo with a whole new air of sympathy and respect. All the other sages stood rapt in awe at what had just occurred before their eyes.

"I…" Nabooru said, slowly regaining herself, "Will do anything to stop those atrocities." Nabooru extended a hand of peace to Zelda.

Zelda hesitated, and Rauru glared at her. She took Nabooru's hand and shook it with a strained smile.

"Next we must discuss how we will defend the castle." Darunia said, dredging on and cracking his massive knuckles.

"The best way would be to create a magic barrier." Mewtwo said.

The eyes of everyone in the chamber turned to Mewtwo, who suddenly felt nervous, but he explained his plan clearly, shoving his discomfort aside.

"The invaders will try to land troops on and in the castle, so we need to have a barrier dome over the entire castle. Also, they will try to invade, damage, or even take control of our minds with their abilities, so we need the barrier to be impenetrable to all energies and for it to form a complete and seamless bubble around the castle." Mewtwo said.

"This kind of magic takes a lot of energy to sustain." Rauru said, "It will take more than all of the combined efforts of every mage in Hyrule, we as sages will need to contribute our energy to such a barrier as well."

There was quiet whispering among the other five sages which ended abruptly when Nabooru spoke. "I will ensure that every Gerudo contributes their energy as well, even if it means passing on to every one of them the images you showed me."

"The Gorons will contribute all of their magic and weapons to fight for the common cause." Darunia said, stepping forward and slamming a fist into his palm. A concussion flowed through the air from the impact.

"The Zoras will do their part; you will have all our magic in the common defense as well." Ruto said.

"The Kokiri will contribute what little we have." Saria said.

"I will summon the remaining Sheikah people from around Hyrule to contribute as well." Impa said.

"And I will give you my psychic abilities, right until the bitter end." Mewtwo said.

The Sages and Mewtwo all put their hands together in the center of the chamber, and the two pieces of the Triforce shone with the new energy of friendship, and the elemental powers of each sage shone as the differently shaped and colored hands held to from the Pact of Hyrule.

**Chapter XIV**

The next day, all of Hyrule awoke to a darkened gray sky. Heavy clouds hung over the land, casting no rain down to the Earth; instead they stubbornly rumbled with distant thunder and blocked the sun. A plume of oily smoke continued to rise from the crater in Hyrule field, merging with the leaden sky and contributing to the murky sky. Along with it came a pall of drear on the once cheerful people of Hyrule. People went to and from their business slowly and quietly, no shouting crowds haggled at the markets, only lone shoppers picking through the wares and buying what they needed.

That day Zelda made a proclamation to the entire kingdom, announcing that Hyrule's war with the Gerudos had ended and that a new alliance had been formed with them. Some people cheered that their sons would no longer be sent off to die, while others muttered in silent distrust and hatred for the thieving Gerudos. Zelda also then declared that Hyrule should brace for another war, another race of people were about to invade Hyrule. She told the people that the invaders were the same people who had caused the meteors to strike Hyrule last night, and that she had no way of knowing when the invasion would come. The people went into an even more sullen mood at this news, now fearing for their lives against a foe even more dangerous than the Gerudos.

And as the day passed, Zelda reassembled Hyrule's army, ordering all troops to pull back from guarding the border with the desert. Thousands of glisteningly armored Hylian troops marched into the castle from all parts of Hyrule, coming to defend the castle. They arrived slowly over time, gathering inside the walls of the town and talking idly and nervously about the coming invasion.

Mewtwo watched from the highest window in the tallest tower and divisions of troops snaked across Hyrule field from out of the distance and towards the castle like pulsing veins of silver in the land itself. He brooded alone in the tower, fearing and wondering how far the time thread was being bent. In normal reality, the time thread would have snapped back into normality as soon as Darkest had died, the change would have been instant and permanent and it would have erased all of these events. But here, it was slowly bending backwards on itself. Mewtwo was still iron willed to never let Darkest birth from himself, even if it meant death, and still the time stream was bending in order to allow Darkest to continue existing. Time should have snapped taut a long time ago, erasing Darkest and all thoughts and memories of him, but still this form was allowed to exist. It was impossible to understand.

Mewtwo noticed a new movement to the East, something was moving in the river. He saw with his fine tuned eyes a slender glistening form emerge from the waters of the river, half human and half fish. It began walking towards the castle and several more climbed out behind it. "These must be the Zoras, Ruto's people" Mewtwo thought, watching as more and more of them appeared from the water. They walked silently across the field towards the castle without any words, unlike the chattering columns of Hylian soldiers that were always arriving. A bright white flash of lightning arced through the sky and the air shook and grumbled. Mewtwo unconsciously sighed with relief, memories of the Empire's red lightning still in his mind. The Hylian soldiers looked startled by the flash, and the Zoras craned the heads up, almost crying for rain to drench their bodies. They were obviously very uncomfortable out of water.

Mewtwo looked more Northeasterly, up at where the giant form of what he assumed to be Death mountain slowly disappeared into the unsettled clouds. As he studied the mountain more closely, he noticed trails snaking down its sides, and a good number of them curved inwards to intercept a small town maybe 40 miles out in the distance. Bands of people, civilians and soldiers alike, were streaming out of this town in a mass exodus toward Hyrule castle. Another white flash illuminated the sky as a web of lightning traced the sky without striking the ground. Another growling rumble of thunder passed through the stone walls of the tower. Mewtwo squinted into the distance at the mountain, sure his eyes had caught something more. He saw small dust clouds coming down the mountain. They moved slowly in the distance, and as Mewtwo watched, they stopped at the town where the Hylians were evacuating.

Mewtwo saw around eighty of these almost indistinguishable dust signatures trace down the mountain and stop at the town, and he assumed that they were probably nothing since no alarm was raised by the remaining people near the town. Mewtwo then decided to look west into the immeasurable distance; his eyes ran down a line of soldiers marching away from the desert. And he also saw bright red colored clothes, there were Gerudos marching along with the Hylians. "Nabooru must have shown them my memories." Mewtwo thought to himself. It was the only way they would march so trustingly along with the Hylians.

Hours passed, and the sky grew steadily darker as the day passed. The smoke from the crater rose endlessly without waning, it seemed to be a horrible omen for Mewtwo. It was feeding the clouds with more and more sun stopping capability, and as night finally began to approach, it was already darker than twilight. Lightning became more and more frequent in the sky, yet it never arced downwards to meet the ground. And still not a drop of rain fell from the gloomy sky, it stingily held back as the Zoras, Hylians and Gerudos streamed into the castle.

Again Mewtwo cast his glance to the Northeast, and he saw among the Hylians great, massive, rock-like people that much resembled the Fire Sage Darunia. "These must be the Gorons." Mewtwo thought. They stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the smaller Hylians. They crossed the bridge over the river and entered the Castle along with everyone else.

As the day ended, Mewtwo returned to the lavished bedroom that Zelda had given him. He laid down on the silk soft mattress and felt a bit out of place. He was used to sleeping on rough, often hard beds, and this suite was like sleeping on air. Over the past few days he had returned to his diurnal state, but he still found it difficult to sleep in the unfamiliar room. The gentle rumble of thunder muffled by the castle walls eventually lulled him to a restless, dreamless sleep.

A/N: Actually, this chunk was 11 pages, so we're longer than one of the old standard chunks! Just goes to show that school makes all the difference whan it comes to writing time. Now our heroes form the Pact of Hyrule and begin girding for war. What will happen next is still up in the air though, the time-space distortions are throwing things off more than you think. Read and review, and I'll be one happy writer!


	19. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 8

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk EIGHT. Whoa, this chunk was exciting and fun to write, it got my blood pumping and I hope it does yours! And know that I won't be posting a chunk nightly, I'm not THAT fast of a writer, even when school's out. A more reasonable expectation would be every other day minimum, more likely every 2 or three days. And that is considering I don't have any major events planned. I'm going to be doing a real live Role Playing Game with foam swords and all with one of my cousins this weekend, and it's going to be seven hours long! If other events like these pop up often, they will cause delays in my writing. But still, enjoy what I post when I post it!

**Interlude**

"How and why it is, I do not know, but I find myself free. Free from his influence, free from his thoughts. I am almost totally rid of him in mind and body, yet a small amount still remains. It shouldn't be possible, but it is happening and it is most beneficial to me and my plans so I will not question the unknown workings of the universe until I become powerful enough to probe into them myself. I will also move back my major offensive plans significantly, I need to see if the link is truly severed as it feels. My scouts found a planet rich with innate energy and some powerful artifacts. Powerful enough even, to make my victory that much swifter. I have began the softening process and soon I will find out if he will come to stop me or not, and if the link is truly broken. End log recording."

**Chapter XV**

Days passed over Hyrule with no sign of invasion, but an ominous cancer seemed to be brooding over the land. What had started as a simple cloud layer at the impact of the meteor was now a roiling black blanket of sodden clouds that completely blocked out the sun. Night was indistinguishable from day, and as the last of the Hylians, Zoras, Gerudos and Gorons all packed into the Castle, tensions ran high among the people. Every few hours a man or woman would run through the streets, screaming and babbling in complete insanity. The endless night and the now widespread fear of the invasion was playing havoc with the minds of everyone who drew breath.

As Mewtwo slept one night, his dreams took on a black element again, he saw Hyrule castle implode in his dreams and more and more clearer pictures of the invaders appeared to him over time. He saw glimpses of oddly shaped feet, demon horns, black armor as smooth as plastic, and thousands upon thousands of greedy red eyes moving in unison through the darkness.

And with each new morning that dawned, it seemed the sky grew into more of a solid black ceiling and the people broke down more and more often. Food began to run low, and soon Zelda allowed farmers to leave the castle to work on plots outside the walls of the castle. Their work was tedious and hard in the dark, but they provided a necessary source of food. As for the Gorons, they seemed in much more of a predicament. Every other goron had carried a large boulder down from Death mountain on his back, and their supply was already getting low. Zelda tried to get them to eat other rocks that were outside the castle, but apparently their diet consisted of rocks only from the mountain. And the Zoras were no longer supplied with fish to eat, they were forced to eat breads and grains like the rest of the Hylians, and it was not good for their digestive system. A good number of them got and stayed very sick as the days passed. Unrest began to ripple through the crowded streets, and talks of anarchy and betrayal flustered through the legions of soldiers that were cooped up with the distrusted Gerudos. Every day the tension rose, and every day Zelda brought to the center of the Castle more and more small trinkets.

"They're very potent magic charms." She explained to him, "I'm hoping that even the smallest little items like these can make a difference." She piled them in the Heart of the Castle, where all the Elemental Medallions had now been relocated. The Master Sword remained in the pedestal in the Temple of time.

Oftentimes the Sages would meet again in the Chamber of Sages, discussing the current situation and trying to plan out their course of action. Soon a very likely plan formed, they would use the six Medallions as nexuses at different points around the castle to sustain the barrier. The Sages themselves would stay in the chamber during the invasion, where their powers are amplified and easier to direct. As soon as the first invading ship was sighted in the sky, the barrier would be raised by watchtower guards and the Sages would rush to the chamber.

Almost a week passed this way, until tensions among the people reached a boiling point. It happened when a Zora fell over dead one day, suddenly ill from an allergy to Hylian food. Other Zoras, on the border of insanity and also ill, began to riot and took torches to homes inside the castle town. The Gerudos then joined the mob and began to loot markets and set fires. 12 Hylian soldiers were killed attempting to put down the riot, and it took Ruto Nabooru and Zelda's appearance to finally stop the chaos. Ruto then decided it was time to call a meeting of the Pact Members. They met impromptu in the Chamber of Sages that night.

"I'm beginning to wonder when this invasion will come, the situation is getting desperate for us. I'm losing my authority over the Zoras and there's nothing my father can do either." Ruto said, frowning.

"They're trying to break us." Mewtwo said. Once again all attention came to him. "They see that our defenses are strong and that they would take losses if they attacked us at full strength. So they're letting us sit and suffer, blacking out the sun and letting us slowly run out of food and go insane."

"They are doing very well." Ruto said, still not any less upset at these thoughts. "Very soon the Zoras will rebel and flee from the castle to get back to the river."

"We can't afford to let that happen." Zelda said, "We need all the magic power we can get to hold the barrier."

"I know that, but with so little water and no more fish, we're getting sicker and sicker, and soon my people will reach a point where they have to choose between rebellion and a slow death. We need to return to the river, or else send someone out to bring back fish and fresher water. The water in your pools is becoming less than fresh and it is disgusting to swim in and breathe."

"We should send bands of soldiers out to catch fish and haul water then." Zelda said, "And we should send a band up Death mountain to carry rocks down for the Gorons to eat."

"I don't understand this," Nabooru said nastily, "Why can't you eat just any rocks? There are plenty around the grounds and outside the walls of the castle."

"Other rocks do not agree with us." Darunia said. "Not only do they taste horrific, but our stomachs have gotten to the point where they cannot handle rocks of any other varieties outside of those found on the Mountain."

"Quit arguing about it! It is already decided! We will send out rock carriers!" Zelda said.

"It is a rash and idiotic decision, you're weakening the common defense!" Nabooru snapped at Zelda.

"And how would you like it if we made you scavenge for your own food outside the castle and kept our stashes for themselves!" Zelda yelled.

Nabooru leveled her scimitar at Zelda. "I would have my people loot and pillage every storehouse before that!"

"SILENCE!" Rauru roared, and the Sages all fell silent and stared at him. "I will not have the alliance fall apart! We will hold out together and as one to the bitter end!"

"And what if the Gerudos don't want to slowly die of starvation while waiting for this invasion that seems to have been delayed indefinitely?" Nabooru said, pointing her scimitar at Rauru.

Mewtwo acted before Rauru could respond, he entered Nabooru's mind and pushed an old set of memories on her. He forced onto her mind the time when he and the Gerudos were infiltrating the Imperial tower. He showed her the mindless slaves toiling without respite, and he showed her the scene from when they reached the top of the tower. The memory of the Gerudos being shredded by the machine guns flooded his and Nabooru's minds. Nabooru's scimitar clattered to the ground and she gripped her head, crying out in fear and sadness, and as the memory ended as did the link.

Nabooru was crouched down, face to the floor and panting. Everyone stood and stared, waiting for a reaction. She slowly stood, still staring at the floor, and sighed heavily. She turned to face Mewtwo, and an abrupt concussion shook the chamber. The water flowing down the walls of the Chamber shuddered as the floor vibrated wildly.

"It's begun!" Zelda shouted. "Bring up the barrier!"

The Sages dashed to their places over their symbols and held up their arms. Mewtwo suddenly felt the floor melt underneath him as a portal back to the Temple of Time opened underneath him. He sank quickly and saw elemental energy pouring from the Sages into the air before disappearing through the portal. He knew what he had to do.

Mewtwo dashed out of the Temple and looked up into the sky. A great hole in the clouds had appeared where something had blown through, and he smelled the thick scent of burnt Earth floating in the still air. Glowing red and blue lights were swarming out in space outside the hole, and many pulses of light were forming and moving downwards. As he stood looking, a ball of blinding crimson energy as large as a house emerged from the clouds and struck Hyrule field near the river. The impact was much closer, and the ground heaved under Mewtwo's feet, knocking him down. He jumped back to his feet and filled his lungs with air.

"They're here!" He screamed into the city. "The invasion is beginning!"

**Chapter XVI**

A thin and powerful veil of energy slowly rose from the ground just inches from the outside of the Castle Town's border walls. Multicolored light formed into a extremely strong wall of energy. It rose upwards just high enough to cover the tip of the highest tower of the castle. The people ran in the streets, screaming in fear and stampeding. The Gorons curled into balls that resembled rocks themselves and the Gerudos ran toward the outer walls along with Hylian soldiers in order to take up the defense. Mewtwo ran amongst them, helping them organize and prepare. Swords, spears, scimitars, bows, and many more weapons were brought to the ready, but in Mewtwo's mind he doubted they would work. If the barrier was breached anyway, none of them would live long enough to swing a weapon. He knew the battle would be fought at the barrier and at it alone. As all of the soldiers finally got to their defensive posts, Mewtwo relayed to them the message that their duty was to contribute all their magic energy to the barrier, even if it meant giving away their life energy. Then he ventured back into the town to get the people who were unfit to fight into safety.

The ground shuddered and often heaved under their feet as Mewtwo lead the people toward the inner walls of the castle, down through the gates and into the catacombs underneath. The people were almost panicking in fear, and the Zoras who were about to get their water when the invasion started began to wheeze. He led them through the stone tunnels to the deepest point and told them to remain there. He told them that if any of them had magic power or energy to spare that they too should send it to the barrier for the common defense, and explained the consequences should the barrier fall. The people, Goron, Zora, Hylian, and Gerudo all alike nodded in grave understanding and controlled their fear. Mewtwo than ran up out of the tunnels and into the castle. He ran up countless flights of stairs until his sides burned from exhaustion, not stopping until he reached the center room. He pushed the rickety wooden door open and walked inside.

The room was filled with all sorts of items, glowing amulets and talismans, enchanted weapons, potions, spell books and other items. In the center of the room were the six Medallions, they glowed brightly in the semi-dark room as they lied on top of a simple wooden desk next to a sputtering lantern. Following Zelda's instructions, Mewtwo took the Medallions, and searched for another artifact somewhere in the room. He smiled when he saw the familiar sight, a simple looking bow lying on top of a quiver with only one arrow. He took them as well and stowed them along with the Medallions. He then ruffled through a stack of musty looking books filled with runes until he found the one he was looking for, it had a blue color and the Triforce Symbol adorned its front. Its spine read in Hylian Characters "Invoking the Power of the Sages"

Mewtwo again sprinted through the castle, up more stairs until he reached the tip of the tallest tower. He set his bag of artifacts down on the table in the center of the room and looked out the narrow window. Through the transparent barrier he could see the clouds were thinning, the night sky became clear and the glinting of hundreds of thousands of Imperial ships filled the entire sky. All were red now, their flaming blue engines had gone silent and they sparkled menacingly in orbit just outside the atmosphere. Pulses of light charged from their weapons arrays and moved down through the atmosphere, striking the world at seemingly random places. They were peppering the entire planet with plasma before going in, but so far none had struck dangerously close to the castle. In fact, there was a relatively wide berth around the castle walls where the ground was untouched. The stone shook under Mewtwo's feet as another bolt struck out in the desert, and he wondered why they hadn't tried to knock down the barrier with one of their blasts. The red lights of the ships were still in the sky, undisturbed as they lobbed the plasma down at the helpless world, there was no sign of any other ships fighting them. And none of the ships were moving, they held absolutely still in the sky, poised on the verge of striking.

Mewtwo watched and waited, but the ships did not descend. The Earth shook again and again as the plasma bolts turned Hyrule field into a smoldering wasteland. The once beautiful grassland was being pulverized and burnt into oblivion, and part of Mewtwo cried inside as the majestic land was slowly turned to smoking ruin. Something strange was going on though, the Forest had not suffered a single hit, not unlike the Castle . There were wide untouched areas around the forest as well, none of the bolts ever came close. Mewtwo was baffled as to why this could be, it was mystifying. If Darkest were as chaotic and evil as he remembered, burning down this ancient forest would have been a joy to him. Yet it remained pristine amid the smoky air. An hour passed before the barrage finally fell silent. The entirety of Hyrule field was now nothing but a great scorched crater with patches of glistening glass where the heat of the plasma had melted the ground together. The pulses no longer formed, and the air around the world fell eerily silent. Mewtwo swallowed hard, looking out into space to watch for the slightest movement.

As the peace and Silence continued, Mewtwo stepped backwards and fumbled with the knapsack full of magic items. He got the Medallions out and spread them onto the table in a circular pattern following Zelda's instructions. He then placed the Bow and Light Arrows inside the circle. Then he picked three other bow and arrow sets off of the wall where they were hanging and laid them around the Medallions. He opened the spell book and turned to page 1367 as Zelda had said. The Ancient Hylian runes were almost unreadable to Mewtwo; they were very different than the modern ones that were used all over Hyrule during this time period. He found the passage needed and read aloud while tracing the lines with one of his large fingers.

"Light's power, be multiplied," He began, slipping on the Ancient dialect. He cursed and started again, knowing perfect pronunciation was needed. "Light's power, be multiplied and bless these bows, for they are chickens." Mewtwo cursed again, the change of one syllable in the Dialect had completely ruined a whole word. He sighed and restarted.

Many tries later, Mewtwo finally finished reading the whole passage perfectly. "Light's power, be multiplied and bless these bows, for they are willed so by the sages to become holy in this time of need. Let their auras repel evil and forever remain holy."

As Mewtwo finished the passage, the Medallions began to glow brightly. Sparks of energy licked outward into the air, and the three mundane bows began to glow as well. Bolts of energy leapt from the Medallions and into the bows, and a strong wind swirled around the room. The entire tabletop was suddenly bathed in white light, and Mewtwo turned to protect his eyes. He felt a concussion discharge from behind him and the light faded. He turned and looked, and the Medallions' glow had returned to normal. The bows all three looked the same. He picked one up and knocked an arrow, testing it. The arrow began to glow bright white, and Mewtwo smiled weakly in satisfaction. He returned the arrow to its quiver and set the bow down, his work done.

Mewtwo's next job was tiring. He took the four light bows and gave them to Hyrule's four Commanders at the corners of the Castle Walls. According to Zelda, they would be able to shoot through the barrier back at the invaders, and the extra sets of Light Arrows would make their defense all that much easier. He ran as fast as he could through the abandoned streets, panting and grasping his side as he traversed the entire Castle and enclosed town, giving each commander a bow. And also, at each corner of the walls he was also to place one of the Six Medallions in the Corners of the Wall. They would be used to strengthen the barrier. As he reached each corner he set the glowing Medallions into special slots for the specific purpose. He placed the Medallions for Forest, Water, Fire, and Spirit in the four corners of the Castle, and then proceeded back inside and up into the Castle again. He slapped his forehead, knowing he could have placed the last two Medallions in the Castle Earlier, and that he wouldn't have had to climb all the way up back to the tower to place them.

Covered with sweat and hyperventilating, Mewtwo reached the top of the tower again, and found the last two engraved slots, and placed the Darkness and Light Medallions into their correct place. He looked outside again, and the barrier glowed many times brighter now. He replaced his knapsack on his back and walked back down to the magic item store-room.

Opening the creaking wooden door again, Mewtwo entered the dimly lit magic room and walked over to the spell book pile. He set the Blue Spell book back in the pile and rifled through to find another one. He pushed aside almost 40 books before finding a simple, thin, green book entitled "Channeling inherent energy" He opened the cover and blew a thick coat of dust off of the pages. He flipped to page 345, wiped the grime off and found the passage on channeling energy from large numbers of items.

"Let all your energy be free, and let it be used for the purpose at hand. Power the Barrier." Mewtwo said, now feeling more confident in the Ancient Dialect.

The first sentence he had uttered was used to extract the energy from all the magic items in the room, and the second was the use. All the items in the room began to shine brightly, each individual charm, book, or weapon glowed its own unique color and the room became blindingly bright for a moment. Then the light flew through the walls and out of the castle. Mewtwo set the spell book down and left the room, only needing to complete one more task.

The sky remained motionless as Mewtwo ran toward the Temple of Time. Still the ships refused to move, and Mewtwo was grateful for whatever was delaying them and giving him the time he needed. He padded through the quiet streets and through the open door of the temple. Taking a quick turn around the pedestal with the Spiritual stones and through the door, he stopped in front of the Master Sword sticking out of the floor. He remembered Zelda telling him that he was taking up Link's responsibility as the Hero, so he needed to take up his sword as well. He grabbed the Master Sword's hilt, felt the smooth blue stone ridges under his fingers, and yanked upwards as hard as he could. At first the sword only moved a tiny bit, but he pulled harder and harder until the blade emerged from the polished marble with a clean ringing. He felt a momentary flash of power, and the sword felt light and strong in his hands. He looked into the polished steel and saw his face, one eye was blue and one eye was red. He blinked and they were both purple again, like normal. He shook his head and set the blade by his side.

Mewtwo reached into his knapsack and pulled out the old plant blade that he had used earlier. It seemed small and weak compared to the Master Sword, and part of him felt attached to it. He gently laid it on its side on top of the stone where the Master Sword had been placed. He then put the Master Sword in the slit in his knapsack, only to hear to his dismay the sound of it slicing through and clattering to the ground. He sighed and picked it back up, wondering where he would get a sheath. He walked slowly out of the temple and looked up to see the ships in the sky were moving. The lights were getting bigger, the ships were moving in.

**Chapter XVII**

Mewtwo sprinted toward the Castle walls as fast as his awkward legs could carry him. As he dashed through the dark and soundless streets of the Castle Town, he periodically craned his head to look upwards through the barrier. The lights in the sky were uniformly moving downwards, into the atmosphere. He saw flickering yellow and orange as the hulls roared through the atmosphere, the friction flaming and twinkling in the dark sky. By now the cloud layer that had covered Hyrule was completely gone, and as Mewtwo approached the outer wall the bell tower of the Temple of Time suddenly rang to life. The bell tolled sorrowfully, the sound hung alone in the completely still air. It chilled Mewtwo to the bone, he had never seen any rope to ring the bell inside the temple, and it was empty anyway. He couldn't turn around and go check however, time was suddenly a luxury. He bounded up the stairs to the top of the outer walls and the Hylian soldiers opened a space for him among their ranks. He held the Master Sword in his hands, suddenly feeling eager to drive it into someone's skull. The Triforce Piece in his right hand glowed a little bit but did not hurt. The ships continued to burn through the atmosphere, picking up speed and getting closer and closer.

Mewtwo looked at the faces of the Hylian soldiers standing next to him. He wondered how many families would lose their husbands and sons. Fear was evident on all of their faces, and their armor glinted dully in the torchlight. The barrier shimmered idly and a soldier coughed. Still the air stood deathly still except for the tolling of the bell.

A faint rumbling noise was the first signal that the ships were close. Mewtwo saw the balls of fire growing in size as they rocketed downward. He frowned and wrapped his fingers tighter around the Master Sword. The rumbling sound grew into a roar, and one of the fireballs grew to the size of an autobus and fell down to strike the field. The ground shook violently and some soldiers fell onto their knees in their heavy armor. A cloud of dust and smoke filled the air where the object had hit the field, and Mewtwo squinted out into the distance. As the clouds slowly dissipated, he saw a jet black, ovular object with chitinous pods across its hull. It had 2 main engine pods, which were each adorned with curving sinister spines. The engines were silent, and the object lay still for the moment. Then, it suddenly shook and began to move, a door slid open on its side and four familiar vehicles emerged. They were tanks of the same design that Mewtwo remembered attacking the Blue Gerudo village those five years ago. They emerged slowly, hovering a foot off of the ground and moving to encircle the ship. Three more vehicles emerged, all without any turrets or other weapons, these must be Personnel Carriers. They hovered out of the opening and stopped alongside the tanks.

Another dropship hit the ground while Mewtwo was observing the unloading vehicles, and the concussion surprised him and threw him to his knees. He nearly cursed in aggravation and stood back up to see another cloud of smoke where the ship had landed. He looked up and saw numerous ships getting very close, all of which were losing altitude and burning brighter. He theorized that this must be the first wave, and that the larger ships must not be able to enter atmospheres. He saw a number of ship lights remaining still in the sky, and sighed with a small amount of relief. Another impact jolted him as a third ship collided with the field. Seconds later, yet another hit, and seemingly instantaneously yet another struck the scarred ground. The ground shook like an Earthquake, and more and more dust drifted into the air. Mewtwo strained to see through the clouds, wondering what was going on.

More and more dropships rocketed down and rammed into Hyrule, Mewtwo lost count at 34. Soon the field's craters were ten times bigger and deeper than the ones that were created by the plasma bombardments. It had been fifteen minutes when the last ship finally crashed into what used to be Hyrule Field. Mewtwo looked through the fading dust and saw hundreds of tanks and hundreds of personnel carriers milling about their landing sites, not making any moves toward the Castle. It was incredibly suspicious, they should be charging into battle.

Mewtwo and the Hylian soldiers stood on the very tips of their toes, their nerves as taut as bowstrings. When someone a few feet down the line accidentally dropped their sword and it clattered to the ground, Mewtwo nearly jumped in surprise. Someone else mumbled a few rather unkind words just out of the sword dropper's audible range. Mewtwo let out a drawn out sigh and continued watching the Imperial forces as they idly roamed around their landing sites. And suddenly, the tolling of the Temple's bell fell silent. Another dull roar made itself heard and everyone looked upwards at once. Another ship was passing through the atmosphere, and as they watched it began to slow. The fires slowly burnt out as it neared an altitude of 4000 feet, and its massive bulk finally came to a stop only a few hundred feet above the landing sites of the dropships. It was approximately 200 feet long and 50 feet wide and thick. The engines on its back cooled and their blue glow faded as its hover drives took over. It became perfectly still in the air, and no wind was generated by its hover drives. Minutes passed and nothing happened. And then, ports opened up on its bottom and more ships emerged from inside. These ships were larger than a dropship, and looked like bunches of folded robotic arms. Their thrusters glowed blue against their jet black hulls, and they slowly descended through the air. As they neared the ground, legs extended, unfolding like the legs of a spindly spider. They touched down inaudibly and their thrusters were darkened. They moved slowly, walking towards each other and as they touched, the merged and formed into something completely new. As their horrendous forms merged, they slowly turned into great and demonic walkers, covered with laser turrets and missile racks. Mewtwo swallowed hard.

As the final walkers completed their mergers, more objects emerged from the bottom of the ship. They appeared to be simple rectangular boxes with thrusters on the bottom, but their shapes changed as they descended. Wheels emerged out of slots on their bottoms and their tops opened. One by one they landed on their wheels and gigantic cannon barrels emerged from their opening tops. Legs extended out of their sides and suddenly speared into the ground, anchoring them sturdily. Three or four support beams adjusted the cannon's angle of projection, and as they dug themselves in, the cannons all aimed their barrels at Hyrule Castle. Sweat began to form on Mewtwo's brow. The Master Sword suddenly felt a bit heavier.

Mewtwo sighed with a tiny amount of relief as the ports on the bottom of the carrier ship slid shut, and he looked down at the massive Imperial army, half hoping that there would be no more surprises. The tanks and APC's were lining up to form ranks, moving in front of the walkers and emplaced cannons. As the lines were finished, all activity fell still. Not a single vehicle moved. The carrier ship remained motionless in the air. A Hylian soldier a few feet away from Mewtwo whispered a silent prayer to the Goddess Din. The horrendous pause choked the spirits of the defenders, and their fear rose in their throats almost to the point where they wished to vomit. The Hylians, unfamiliar with this technology, thought that these vehicles were great lumbering beasts, monsters that could rip right through the barrier. Mewtwo realized though, that it was not with their physical size that the Empire would win, but through their combined power. The cannons began to charge, and their barrels glowed crimson with energy. They glowed brighter and brighter, until each one was like a blood red star in the darkness. And when they let fly, 50 glowing red orbs of chaotic energy rocketed forth, covering the distance in a split second, and Mewtwo was only able to close his eyes in time before they reached the barrier and struck.

**Chapter XVIII**

There was no sound or concussion from the impact of the energy artillery on the barrier, and Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes to see ripples flow across it like those on a pond. No holes had been punched, and the shape and form of the barrier had not been distorted by the impacts. It was if someone had dropped a handful of pebbles on a vast bowl of Jell-o. The barrier rippled a slight more before becoming still, hardly affected at all by the barrage that it had experienced.

"Yes!" Mewtwo shouted at the top of his lungs, jumping and kicking his heels together. Hylian and Gerudo soldiers turned and stared at him like an idiot, but it was not enough to spoil his relief. If these cannons couldn't do that much damage to the barrier, then surely the rest of their weapons would be just as ineffective, if not more. He was almost joyous in his relief, and the soldiers around him, not understanding the significance of this event, scowled at him and wondered if he had gone insane. Mewtwo calmed himself down and just stared out onto the Imperial army, now mockingly arrogant. "Let's see what you're made of" He thought to himself, almost laughing as the cannons charged again.

And then, as the second bombardment from the energy cannons glanced off of the barrier ineffectually, the tanks, APC's and walkers burst to life. The tanks and APC's, which hovered a foot or so off of the ground, moved extremely quickly, closing the distance with the barrier dangerously rapidly. Mewtwo's smile faded and he came back to grips with reality.

"Ready arrows!" A Hylian captain shouted, and thousands of bows were knocked at once, four of which glowed bright white. "Aim for the turrets!" Mewtwo shouted, and the Hylians and Gerudos grumbled in confusion, wondering what a turret was. As the tanks came within firing distance, a volley of arrows screamed through the air. They passed through the barrier with ease, and soon after clinked harmlessly off of the black steel surfaces of the vehicles. The four white arrows however, burrowed through the black steel and four tanks suddenly erupted into red flames, their turrets flying off helter-skelter and hitting other tanks. Three more tanks and an APC were caught in the ensuing explosions and were blown to bits as well. The lines did not break, the advance did not slow, and as the tanks got close enough their turrets glowed a deathly purple-black. They suddenly stopped on a dime when they reached minimum firing distance and let their cannons fire. Orbs of blackness hurled forward and struck the barrier, disappearing into the multicolored light and causing hundreds of ripples in the energy. The barrier shuddered a small bit, but showed no signs of serious weakening. Mewtwo decided it was time to act, and pointed the Master sword downwards at the line of tanks and APC's. Using the sword's innate energy itself, Mewtwo fired a bolt of pale blue light down through the barrier and directly into a tank's turret. The tank rattled and glowed a bit before violently exploding and hurling chunks of steel into other vehicles. Hylian soldiers cheered.

Mewtwo could not cheer at all however, he saw something new emerging from the carrier ship that was hovering over the battlefield. He blinked as another barrage from the emplaced cannons caused the barrier to ripple wildly, and saw ports opening up on the carrier all over its hull. Explosions rocked the ground as another volley of light arrows caused multiple tanks to erupt in flame, and Mewtwo squinted to see tiny little fighter ships swarming out from inside the carrier. He swallowed hard as hundreds, and then thousands of the gnat-like one man fighters streamed out of the carrier and buzzed through the sky like a plague of locusts. Their engines glowed orange and they moved like flies, darting through the air without direction. When almost 2500 of these fighters filled the sky, only their glowing orange engines visible like fireflies, they formed together into "V" formations and began to make patrols through the sky. As the action raged on back on the ground, they made passes over the barrier and peppered it with small, piercing laser bolts. By now the barrier was quivering from all the impacts, and Mewtwo began to worry about its stability. He felt he needed to do some action to support it, so he set the Master Sword down, pulled out the Green Potion, and uncorked it.

With three long gulps Mewtwo downed the entire potion at once. His esophagus felt like it was being electrified and his mouth almost seized up from the raw energy. His veins tingled and stung with the power that was flowing through them, and he seized all of it together at once. It was enough to create an energy ball the size of five or six SUV's but instead of balling it up for attack purposes; he sent it directly to the barrier. Shimmering white light exited his body and merged with the barrier, which suddenly stopped trembling and stood stronger than it had before the attack had begun.

Mewtwo suddenly felt extremely weak and tired, and the Triforce piece in his hand shrieked with excruciating pain. It felt like his hand was shriveling and being pierced with hundreds of needles. He groaned and tried to pick up the Master Sword, but his hand wouldn't respond at all. He looked at it and saw it was grey like that of a dead man's, and the Triforce piece glowed bright green. Mewtwo picked up the Master sword with his left hand and looked down over the wall to find another target. Wave upon wave of regular arrows spent themselves harmlessly on the undamaged tanks, and every few seconds a light arrow would fly out and detonate a tank or APC. As Mewtwo's eyes focused, he saw something terrifyingly familiar. The APC's were beginning to open up, and out of them stepped the walking monstrosities that haunted Mewtwo's memory. They were exactly identical to him, only jet black and blood red, covered with Giovanni's armor and their eyes glowed crimson without intelligence, only a thirst for warm blood. They emptied out of the APC's in swarms, and Hylian and Gerudo soldiers shuddered in fear. Some stopped firing altogether, and the ones who stood next to Mewtwo suddenly looked at him in distrust. He saw hatred of him in their ayes and one drew his sword at him. As a response, Mewtwo aimed the Master Sword and direct it's energies to form a bolt. The bolt flew down through the barrier and struck one of the Imperial Centurions. The Centurion suddenly turned stiff as a board and fell over forwards, and the suddenly exploded in chunks of gore. The others around him greedily bent over his body and devoured it like ravenous beasts. Mewtwo turned to look at the Hylians, and they frowned disdainfully and returned to their futile arrow firing.

As the Centurions finished climbing out of the APC's they grouped together right up next to the barrier and lined up orderly. Mewtwo finally saw an opportunity for the mundane arrows to be effective as the Centurions formed their ranks.

"Fire at the ones who look like me! Do not waste any more arrows on their vehicles!" Mewtwo shouted at the top of his lungs. The Hylians and Gerudos nodded in general understanding and knocked a new volley of arrows. Just as the ranks of the Centurions were about to be completed, the arrows were let fly. They whizzed through the barrier and collided with the lines. There were mixed results, some arrows clattered off of the Centurions' armor, but a good number of them found places embedded in the soft flesh between the seams in the armor. Hundreds of Centurions gripped their injured limbs and fell, and chaos broke through their ranks. The barrier shuddered again as a barrage from the emplaced cannons struck in unison with a barrage from the tanks and a combined strafing pass from the fighters. Mewtwo had a lump in his throat, all the energy he had contributed had been used up already. He fumbled with the cork on the blue potion and drank the entire bottle.

Again, he sent all of the energy into the barrier, and it returned to its previous strength. The fighters flew unopposed through the air while chaos raged on the ground, and they happily continued to pepper the barrier with laser bolts. Meanwhile, another volley of arrows was made ready to fire at the centurions. But before they could fire, the lines were completed and Mewtwo suddenly sensed a horrendously large amount of energy collect around the castle. The centurions all raised their arms in unision, and each one formed a black energy sphere six feet in diameter. They then all threw this energy in unison, forming a black tide of evil that crashed into the barrier violently. Fear gripped Mewtwo and the rest of the defenders as the barrier shook wildly, bending slightly and flickering like a candle about to go out. "Come on, fire those accursed arrows!" A Hylian captain practically screamed. The soldiers came to their senses and let the arrows fly. Mewtwo watched them, his hopes riding on the need for the Centurions to be disposed with. His eyes followed them all the way down to their striking points, a few feet in the air above the Centurions.

"No!" Mewtwo cried, seeing the arrows splinter on psychic shields that the Centurions had raised. The barrier shook again, another barrage from the emplaced cannons was now all it took to shake it. The top of the barrier where the fighters were staffing it was now starting to become thin, and the Centurions held up their arms again to form their energy blasts.

Where the energy came from, Mewtwo didn't know or care. He suddenly found himself flying through the air, passing through the barrier and charging two gigantic energy blasts in his hands. The Triforce piece ceased to pain him, in fact it suddenly reversed and sent power to him. The Centurions all craned their necks and looked up at him, too dumb to know what was going on. Mewtwo's energy grew and grew, fed by the Triforce and his anger and fear. The two spheres in his hands grew to monstrous proportions, each the size of a house, and he cried out in elemental anger as he threw them down into the ranks of Centurions and tanks.

The barrier trembled to maintain in the explosion that followed. A humongous ball of deep purple fire engulfed hundreds of Centurions and Tanks, evaporating them instantly. The shockwave caused all tanks within a twenty foot radius to erupt into their own blossoming explosions and Centurions were pulverized into biomatter and contorted steel armor by the concussion. Mewtwo fed even more anger into the blast, laughing maniacally at the destruction. The explosion fed off of him and grew, enveloping more and more vehicles and Centurions, and the barrier bent dangerously inwards, almost to the point of breaking. And then, the sudden anger faded away, the energy receded, and the blast slowly ran its course, fading away. The crater that was left was almost 90 feet wide, not a trace of any of the Centurions or tanks within the radius remained. The tanks around the explosion had been turned into firecrackers, popping into balls of flame by the concussion. Hundreds of more Centurions lie dead, crushed by the concussion. All fell silent on the battlefield, the few remaining Centurions simply stared up at him, the cannons stopped firing, and the tanks stood still. The flying fightercraft suddenly receded back towards the carrier and milled around it. No more arrows flew from inside the barrier. Mewtwo, bereft of all energy, fell out of the sky like a shot bird, plummeting toward the stone wall. He fell hundreds of feet, whizzing through the air half conscious and only partially knowing of a painful death awaiting him. But as he passed through the thin and weak barrier, it slowed his fall down enough so that when he hit the stone wall, it only bruised his back. He smiled as he flitted in and out of consciousness, knowing he had saved the battle and all of their lives.

A/N: Hmmm, what was this interlude, you might ask? Well, it was something that I couldn't just stick in a chapter because it's out of place. And I'll let you figure out yourself whose log it was and its significance. Know that later on you'll look back at it and go "Oh yeah!". And I do hope that you know that it's still far from over, there's still much that can happen! Read, Review, and enjoy!


	20. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 9

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk NINE. (Outdated portion of Author's note removed.)

**Chapter XIX**

Mewtwo choked and coughed as a thick liquid was forced down his throat. Suddenly he sprang into consciousness, his mind and body restored. He saw a Gerudo woman, kneeling over him with a half empty bottle of red potion. She had just brought him back into reality with a bracing dose.

"Quickly strange purple one! The battle is starting again!" She said, corking her potion and picking up her bow.

Mewtwo stood up and saw that he was still on top of the castle outer wall, and he heard booming explosions from the restarted battle. He turned and looked over the wall to see the Walkers stepping slowly closer to the barrier, and hundreds of tendrils of smoke curved through the air as their rocket pods emptied themselves. The barrier was rattling under the constant explosions of small missiles exploding against the surface. He also saw that the remaining 18 Centurions were climbing back aboard APC's and the 12 tanks were fleeing in between the legs of the walkers. The fighters that had been hovering around the carrier were now docking and landing back inside, having run low on fuel. The emplaced cannons were also silent, they were being lifted back into the carrier one by one. Mewtwo didn't know why, but he assumed that their power cores needed to be recharged before firing again. As the walkers crawled across the cratered no-mans land, their rockets pounded the barrier mercilessly and without relent. As entire racks of missiles reached empty, the whole racks were simply unattached and dropped, and new racks emerged from behind them on a rotating dispenser system.

The walkers were the only immediate threat left, and they could be dealt with easily with energy attacks, they were very fragile. But the barrier was about to break, and repairing it was the highest priority on Mewtwo's list. He acted quickly with a plan in mind.

"Everyone!" He shouted, "Put down your bows! They will not affect these walkers! I want for everyone who owns a green or blue potion to take them now, and then to send all of their magic energy to the barrier at once!"

In understanding unison, bows were lowered and potions were uncorked. As the barrier flickered on the absolute brink of shattering, an overwhelming surge of energy washed out of the bodies of the soldiers and into it. The barrier expanded three feet like an inflating balloon and grew extremely bright and thick. It was many times stronger than it had been originally. Now the missiles only bounced and slid off of it as if it were magnetically repelling them. The walkers then aimed their laser turrets and began to fire en masse into the barrier, still only causing small ripples. Mewtwo saw an opportunity, and picked up the Master Sword. He used the sword's energy once more to send a beam of energy forth, and it passed through the barrier and struck the leg of a walker. Where it struck, the walker's leg exploded violently, and the whole infernal contraption tilted and fell forwards. When it landed nose first on the ground its fuel tank exploded, setting off all the missiles it carried, which all exploded at once. The ensuing multiple eruption set off the walkers next to it, and then the walkers next to them. A hole in their line opened that was six walkers wide.

"Light arrows, now!" Mewtwo cried, and aimed the Master Sword again. Five bolts of white light moved out in unison and struck the legs of five separate walkers. Their legs exploded, these walkers toppled as well, exploding and setting off even more of their neighbors.

Mewtwo and the four Hylian captains fired until there were no more walkers left standing, and the battlefield fell eerily silent once more. Mewtwo squinted out and saw the remaining tanks and APC's being airlifted back into the carrier, and the last cannon docked as well. Five minutes of peace passed as the last few vehicles disappeared into the black hull of the carrier. Mewtwo was on the verge of crying victory, they head beaten off the entire assault. He smiled on the corner of his mouth but did nothing more to show his relief. Again his smile faded as a crimson glow began to form along the carrier's lateral line. Hundreds of individual plasma cannons left and right across the starboard plasma array began to collect charges, and a soft electric hum filled the air. The charges intensified and collected quickly, and soon the entire region was bathed in blinding red light. Mewtwo looked away as the light burned his eyes, and the hum grew to a moan of electrical tension in the air. Only a slight swishing sound was heard and the boiling plasma was released.

The plasma met the barrier before anyone could open their eyes. The barrier suddenly glowed red and the ripples across its surface were like tidal waves on an ocean. It bent almost six feet inward and snapped back harshly as the plasma charges were absorbed. Mewtwo opened hbis eyes in time to see the barrier bend as it did, and his blood practically stopped cold in his veins. Another round of these shots would pierce the barrier. Without need to wait any longer, he cried for a green potion. A Gerudo some ranks down the wall rolled it across the stone to him. He drank it in three gulps and felt the uncomfortable sting of the energy. Bu this time, instead of healing the barrier, he propelled himself outside the barrier and into the air. He knew that another volley of plasma would collapse it even if he did heal it, and he still had time before the needed charge was reached along their weapons array. This was his only chance, to kill or be killed. He formed all the energy from the green potion, and then took some from his own powers and forcefully took some from the Triforce, which once again failed to protest with any form of pain. The energy spheres this created were each over 110 feet in diameter, almost as big as the carrier itself. With great loathing and prejudice, he lobbed them both at the carrier as its plasma weapons only barely started to charge again.

The energy spheres flew slowly but truly, but before they could collide with the ship's hull, they first made electricly powerful contact with the ship's shields. The shields, normally invisible, suddenly flashed bright red. Where the two energies crashed, destructive full sized bolts of lightning arced through the air, the atmosphere of the world seemed to take a deep breath, and finally the shields gave way. The energy spheres burrowed through fifteen decks of strong alloy before reaching the ship's reactors and detonating them.

From space, other Imperial ships watched as a small orange speck formed down on the planet's surface, an explosion big enough and bright enough to see from space. Back in Hyrule, a mushroom cloud soared up into the air, the Forest was almost completely flattened, and the barrier flickered and just barely held through the explosion. Nobody in the castle saw what became of Mewtwo, the flash of the nuclear explosion blinded them and Mewtwo seemingly disappeared in the flash. Anything loose or not tied down in Hyrule field was hurled miles away, and the people of Hyrule were stunned beyond thought or speech. Their enemy, and their hero, had both evaporated within a second.

**Chapter XX**

Mewtwo again awoke to the uncomfortable feeling of a red potion being choked down his throat. He looked up to see a Gerudo soldier hunched over him, holding the red potion. She helped him stand and gestured out into the smoking remains of Hyrule. He stared dumbly at the destruction that sprawled across the land.

The trees of the Kokiri forest had been bent back on themselves, but were neither broken nor burned. The center of the field was now one enormous smoking crater, and where the radius had touched the Zora's river, it simply had been blown away. The waters of the river were now flowing directly into the crater. There was no trace of any Imperial vehicle, troop or ship in the immediate area beside the ever twinkling lights of the ships out in space. And even more frightening, the barrier was almost invisible and it flickered threateningly on the verge of fading out.

"Quickly! Does anyone have any green or blue potions left?" Mewtwo cried, grateful that there were no Imperial troops there to pound at the weakened barrier.

The soldiers around him rifled through their bags but none found the needed remedies. Mewtwo, now completely forgetting the odd way he had ended up back inside the wall, ran down the length of the wall to find the same result; empty potion bottles. He became desperate, not knowing when another Imperial ship could come burning down out of the sky. He reached one of the four corners of the wall and saw the Fire Medallion there in its place. It was only glowing at a quarter of its normal strength, but it was still giving energy to the barrier. He ran onward along the next section of wall, but still found the same result. His mind began to freeze up with fear, and he couldn't think of what to do next at all. Panic gripped him completely and all he could do was run and look at all the empty potion bottles lying on the stone.

A sudden feeling caused Mewtwo to screech to a halt and to look up into the sky. It was a familiar feeling, a feeling of foreboding, futility and sorrow. An icy chill ran down his spine and he was paralyzed with fear. He saw a single ship moving down through the atmosphere, catching a brilliant orange glow as it burned through. It slowly approached, slowing as it neared lower altitudes. It came to a stop directly in front of Mewtwo, only a few feet outside the barrier. It was the same size and shape as a dropship, but it was adorned with many more spines, at least ten large spines and hundreds of small ones. Intricate patterns flowed across the black hull, traced in what appeared to be blood. Its engines sputtered in the air before shutting down to let the hover drives take over. A small hatch on top opened up, and demonic laughter poured out. The soldiers around Mewtwo turned deathly pale, as pale as he already was.

"What have we here?" The all too familiar voice laughed. A pair of curved horns, blood red eyes and bat wings rose out of the small ship. "It seems that history has deviated somewhat."

Mewtwo fell backwards onto his rear end as Darkest rose out of the ships, staring down at the defenders with a malicious smile. The barrier weakly flickered between him and the brave soldiers. Darkest simply observed them all for a moment, his tail flicking and wings twitching. The Hylian and Gerudo soldiers cowered in anticipation, and Mewtwo remained completely paralyzed by fear. The night air suddenly stirred, a breeze blew past them all. Darkest suddenly grinned grimly, the sharpened fangs were orange and chipped.

"Now then, this is a bit of an annoyance." Darkest said. He flicked his wrist and a small dark energy ball hit the barrier and pierced it. Mewtwo gasped and cringed. The barrier flickered one more time before disappearing completely. Hyrule Castle was totally exposed.

"What to do first." Darkest said, scratching his chin. He looked down at Mewtwo and frowned. "Ah yes. You, my purple friend, are not supposed to be in this time period. I'm afraid I'm going to have to read your mind to find out why you're here, whether you like it or not.

A burning sensation filled Mewtwo's head, like a red hot poker had just been jammed through his skull. Again his memories were unearthed and dragged past his eyes, almost all of them at once and at a tremendous speed. Before he could react, it stopped and the feeling was gone. Mewtwo looked back up at Darkest to see him completely stunned.

"This shouldn't be possible!" Darkest said. "By now the Time stream should have already wiped me from existence, and yet here I stand! I shouldn't be too surprised however, odder things have been happening. Have you notice Mewtwo, that there has been no trace of Lightest or his forces? He has not showed his head to save you and your friend's crummy little necks.

"It shouldn't be possible! You and Lightest have always been linked psychically whether you liked it or not. You can always see the other's actions and you always plan point and counterpoint strategies!" Mewtwo said.

"I don't know how it is possible, but somehow the link has been severed. I theorize that it has been caused by all of your meddling in the time stream, adverse affects and all. And now Lightest doesn't have a clue as to what I'm doing here and he cannot stop me!" Darkest cackled.

It was at this point that Mewtwo realized how desperate the situation was, so he turned and tried to flee. But before he could get two feet away, Darkest grabbed Mewtwo with his psychic powers, preparing to initiate the separation. But before he could, two glowing arrows embedded themselves in his side.

Darkest cried in pure, excruciating pain. One Light Arrow was enough to cause his entire nervous system to burn like molten steel, and two was enough to almost completely incapacitate him. He dropped Mewtwo and fell forward off of his ship, sailing to the ground and hitting with a soft thump. The other Hylians, taking their cue, knocked their arrows and all aimed at Darkest at once. Darkest laid on the ground, trying to dispel the good energy from his body when suddenly almost 100 arrows struck him in the back at once. Thick black blood oozed from his eyes and mouth, and he couldn't draw another breath. But as the paralysis from the light arrows left him, he grasped his psychic powers and healed himself. Suddenly, all of the arrows were scattered, propelled out of his body by the rebounding tissue. He flew back up into the air, howling with rage and looking down at the Hylians. Again the light arrows flew upwards to attack him, but this time he was able to completely avoid them. He swiftly entered the minds of all the Hylian and Gerudo soldiers and fried them in one fell swoop. The soldiers, the insides of their heads now nothing but crispy black bricks, fell over instantly dead, every single one of them. Darkest then looked for Mewtwo, only to find him gone, slipped away and his energy signature hidden from his detection.

Mewtwo ran quickly and silently through the empty streets of Hyrule castle once more. He carefully hid his energy signature, trying his very best to avoid detection from Darkest. He had taken off into the streets as soon as he had been freed from Darkest's grip, and ran as quietly as he could through the shadows. The Triforce piece on his right hand stopped glowing completely, as if complying with his desperate attempts to remain hidden from Darkest. He heard a bellow of rage far behind him as he ran, and picked up as much speed as he could without becoming a noisemaker. Random screams peppered the air behind him, and Mewtwo knew that all the Hylians and Gerudos at the wall would be dead by now. He breathed as silently as possible, but his chest began to burn and he needed to breathe faster. Then he felt Darkest's presence moving, he was moving into the town to search for him.

Mewtwo ducked behind a small trashcan in shadow of a small shop as Darkest floated past, hardly a few feet away in the alley next to him. It was all he could do to remain silent, he had to physically grab and hold his tail to keep it from twitching in fear and knocking another trashcan over. This was a game of cat and mouse, and the cat in him knew that he was the mouse. He waited until Darkest was farther off before taking off toward the castle again.

Hiding behind a large box, Mewtwo looked and saw the inner drawbridge of the castle was close. But there was a fifty foot clearing between the drawbridge and the safety of the dark town. He would have to cross unnoticed in order to reach the castle. He didn't know what to do once inside, he hadn't thought that far ahead. But he was permeated by fear and panic and couldn't think about anything other than the present. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, and he knew Darkest would detect his energy if he tried to cloak himself.

"Where are you?" Darkness screamed at the top of his voice, it echoed through the entire town. Sweat nearly poured off of Mewtwo as Darkest stood still, now hovering over the town and scrutinizing it.

Mewtwo held his breath as Darkest hovered there, and had to bit his tongue in order to keep from sighing in relief when Darkest suddenly whizzed away, shooting out over the field to search there. When Mewtwo could only barely sense Darkest's presence, he quietly dashed across the stone and into the castle. From there, he ran aimlessly up flights of stairs, until he suddenly felt the fading energy coming from the magic item storage room. He opened the door and entered.

The items within no longer glowed at all, they had been almost completely sapped. He suddenly began to rifle through the piles of items, unsure what he was looking for. He shoved aside all manners of jewelry and trinkets, until he found a familiar blue colored instrument. The Ocarina of Time shone before him, right where Zelda had stashed it. His mind suddenly flashed, he put it up to his lips and played a song, one which was finally eked out of his memory by his panic and desperateness. The room spun around him, and the familiar blue light surrounded him. He didn't know which time period it would take him to, but he didn't care so long as Darkest wasn't there.

**Chapter XXI**

Mewtwo felt himself wake upon a soft silk-like bed, a familiar mattress. He opened his eyes and saw a white stone ceiling and around him lavish furniture. As he became completely aware, his memories of Darkest's pursuit and the Ocarina came flooding back to him; he leapt out of bed and rushed to the window. What he saw was Hyrule field, completely untouched with no signs of the barrage and invasion that it had withstood. There was no barrier, and dark clouds blotted out the sky. The Ocarina had taken him back in time again. He left the window, running up and down flights of stairs until he finally found princess Zelda.

"You look as though you've seen a ghost! What is the matter?" Zelda asked.

"How long ago was it that you made the proclamation of peace with the Gerudos?" Mewtwo asked, slowly controlling his fear.

"Just yesterday, you were there! Are you feeling alright?" Zelda asked.

"Yes yes, I'm fine. I'm going for a walk through town now." Mewtwo said, his mind roiling.

"Alright, but should you need anything ask any of the guards." Zelda said in a slightly worried tone. Mewtwo thanked her and left the inner castle.

The fresh air helped Mewtwo to think more clearly. So the Ocarina had taken him back just over a week, at the beginning of the softening period. Mewtwo was extremely anxious about the prospect of living through the entire invasion all over again. He knew there was no way the Hylians could win, no matter how much more energy they could gather for the barrier. Without Lightest's support, any battle with Darkest would be an exercise in futility. It seemed hopeless, and Mewtwo walked the entire perimeter of the castle trying to think up a solution. Every scenario he ran ended with Darkest coming in at the last moment and breaking the barrier. But when he finally hit upon the solution, it seemed nearly impossible to undertake.

"I need to find some way of contacting Lightest to tell him about the upcoming invasion. But how?" Mewtwo pondered as he walked past a potion shop. The big wooden sign depicting the three potion types caught his attention for the moment and he decided to go in. The shopkeeper, a hunched over old man, was carrying a large box full of potions with the help of a young apprentice.

"Hello purple one" The old man said, setting the box down.

"Hello potionmaster." Mewtwo replied, still deep in thought.

"Can I get you anything? Some potions perhaps, or maybe a bottled fairy or two?"

"No, no thanks. I don't have any money with me." Mewtwo said, looking at the rows upon rows of glistening bottles.

"The princess told me that should you come into the shop that I should provide you with potions for free." The old man said, setting a blue potion on the counter and gesturing for him to take it.

"No no, keep it for the Hylian soldiers, they will need it. Trust me, I know." Mewtwo said.

Mewtwo sat down in a chair in the corner of the room and began an attempt at Plan A. He tried to reach out into the universe to contact Lightest psychically. The farther he reached, the more energy he spent and the more the Triforce pained him. He sighed and gave up when the mists of space yielded nothing. Then, he reached over and grabbed a green potion off of the table. He drank a dose and used the energy to probe farther out with his mind. As he reached farther and farther, he suddenly experienced a block, a psychic energy blockade that completely turned his attempts back. He frowned and gave up the plan for good. It would have required too much energy to achieve anyway, even if he didn't have the block preventing him from reaching out any further. The reaches of space were just too vast.

Mewtwo's only other plan was even more farfetched that plan A. Plan B had him leaving thee planet entirely in order to seek out Lightest and bring him back to Hyrule. Although creating an airtight bubble with recycling oxygen for space travel wouldn't require very much energy, he could end up searching for years if he didn't know where to look. But the vivid Memory of Darkest's forces plundering Hyrule convinced him that he needed to do something other than sit and wait for it to come. With a grim resolve, Mewtwo set this new course for himself. He walked over to the Potion counter and spoke to the potion maker.

"I've changed my mind. I'm going to need 15 green potions and 5 blue potions, please." He said courteously.

"My my my, someone has something big planned eh?" The potionmaker asked, grabbing bottles off of the shelves.

"I have an extensive trip to make, through rather dangerous areas." Mewtwo said. He opened his knapsack and began placing bottles in it.

"Didn't the princess warn us not to leave the castle on the eve of the invasion?" The potion maker asked.

"I think I might be able to stop the invasion altogether." Mewtwo said, barely stuffing the last bottle into his cramped knapsack.

"Then may the gods speed you on your journey."

Mewtwo thanked the potion maker as he left, hoping that he had taken enough. If he were successful, the Hylian soldiers wouldn't need to use these potions to defend the Castle at all. The next stop was the Temple of Time. Mewtwo walked in, straight to the inner Temple and yanked the Master Sword out of the Stone. It came free with a clear ringing and Mewtwo held it in his hand as he discreetly left the Temple. He walked back to the inner castle and ventured to the armory. When he reached this destination, he rifled through the various weapons and their accoutrements until he found a scabbard that fit the Master Sword. He slipped the Master Sword into it and slung it over his back next to the knapsack full of potions. He then proceeded up more stairs until he reached the magic storage room. There, he searched until he found the Light Arrows and the Ocarina of time. He stuffed them into his full knapsack and left the room. His last destination was the Castle's food storeroom. When he arrived, the smell of various grains, fruits and salted meats met his nostrils. He grabbed another whole knapsack and stuffed it full of food. He grabbed anything that he could lay his paws on, breads, meats, cheeses, vegetables, and any other food that would keep for a long time. He wrapped them and stowed them away for his long trip ahead. He then walked over to corner of the room where a great keg of water sat. He proceeded to fill around 30 medium sized flasks full of water until he could carry no more. Weighted down with almost 300 pounds of supplies, Mewtwo limped out of the castle and onto the open grounds. He uncorked a green potion and brought it to his lips, about to drain it when he heard an angry shout.

"What in Din's fiery name do you believe you are doing?" Zelda roared, approaching behind him."

"No time to explain princess, I'm off on a mission to stop the invasion." Mewtwo said. He then downed the potion and implemented the energy. He formed the airtight bubble and lifted off of the ground, gaining altitude.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Zelda cried after him. He simply waved back at her shrinking form as he sailed higher and higher.

The atmosphere eventually faded away and Mewtwo looked down on the planet. Mewtwo saw the black cloud cover had covered the entire world, blocking out the sun. On the darker side of the planet he could see lightning flash. He turned with a sigh and suddenly saw a jolting sight. A few miles away a small Imperial frigate was observing the planet, and at any moment it could notice him. Mewtwo hastily cloaked himself, using slightly more energy, and rocketed himself away from the planet as fast as he could. When he felt he had reached a safe distance, he let the cloak fade away and initiated the oxygen recycling effect. His muscles relaxed and he sighed with relief as zero gravity took away the wight of his supplies, which he let float around inside the eight foot diameter bubble. He felt the energy being used was miniscule, and the potion still flowed through him strong. He stopped for a moment to think.

"Concentrate." He thought. "Try to feel Lightest's presence."

After hovering motionless for several minutes, Mewtwo finally felt a faint flickering feeling. It was coming from an are of space at a 90 degree angle upwards from the direction he had taken away from the planet. Mewtwo took in one final breath of gumption and set off on this new course, hoping for the best and having prepared for the worst.

**Chapter XXII**

It was impossible for Mewtwo to tell how far he had traveled, or how many days he had been flying through the cosmos. Without regular intervals of sunlight amidst the eternal darkness of space, he completely lost all perception of time. His usage of potions was ,steady at around two a day, giving him around 10 days total traveling time total before he ran out and the Triforce would begin to drain him. He also chipped away at his food and water supplies as slowly as he could bear, trying to conserve as much as possible. He kept his speed and direction constant, rocketing through the emptiness toward the small glimmering feeling of light that he could feel in his mind. The Triforce pulled at him to go back, wanting to reunite with the other two pieces, and with these to pulling forces Mewtwo maintained a total bearing on where to go and where he should return after contacting lightest.

Complete isolation began to wear on Mewtwo's mind after a time, he missed Zelda and the Gerudos, and the total silence in space was maddening. Oftentimes he talked to himself, simply trying to make sure that he hadn't gone deaf. Time crawled on and on, and the isolation, darkness and silence chipped away at Mewtwo's sanity. He found himself humming Hylian folk tunes involuntarily at times, and he often fidgeted with the Master Sword and Ocarina to keep the feeling of total stillness from engulfing him. He did not sleep at all, he needed to be awake to maintain the bubble. With the longer passage of more time, it became increasingly hard for him to stay awake, and he played a dangerous game by dozing and waking when he felt the cold of space start to seep through into his bubble.

His eyelids became two ton weights and the absence of gravity caused his muscles to become lax and weak. He suddenly felt a prickling cold and jolted awake from the sleep he was about to drift into. The bubble refreshed itself and he slapped himself hard over the face to stay awake. It was no use, he soon repeated the action five minutes later.

He was on the verge of drifting off again when a sudden blazing red light flashed through his drooping eyelids. He jumped into full awareness when he caught sight of an Imperial ship approaching around fifteen miles off. It was monstrously large, the size of four of the carriers that had brought the invasion to Hyrule, and it was moving directly toward him. Another pulse of light rocketed forward towards him, and he quickly moved the bubble to dodge. Knowing that Darkest would never shoot to kill him, Mewtwo guessed that the occupants of the ship hadn't fully ascertained who he was. He assumed that they thought he was some sort of space debris and were shooting at him to clear a path. He hastily cloaked and moved off at double speed. At a safe distance he observed as the ship passed him by, heading in the opposite direction towards the planet where Hyrule was located. He felt shaken slightly, and redoubled his pace towards his goal with new resolve.

The Newfound resolve was slowly melted by the days however, Mewtwo was lullede again by the endless darkness and began to drift off again and again. His food supply began to run low and the sight of the potions slowly running lower and lower was enough to keep Mewtwo from completely falling asleep. By the time he only had Six potions left, he guessed he had been traveling for a week now. He felt ill, his body felt a horrible malaise and he needed sleep. He turned off course and entered the atmosphere of a planet that looked similar to Earth or Hyrule's planet.

The planet was indeed similar, it had an atmosphere of oxygen and oceans of water, but it was completely empty. Not a single trace of life existed anywhere, and the land was uniformly brown dirt with no mountains, rivers, or any other types of formations. It was here that Mewtwo chose to stop and rest. He let the bubble dissipate and set his things on the ground, using the food knapsack as a pillow. Completely and totally exhausted by going so long without sleeping, he fell into the deepest sleep he had ever experienced practically as he touched his head to the knapsack full of soft bread.

A/N: More battling, another trip through time, and now space travel! What could happen next? Continue reading on and find out! Review and I'll be happy. Thanks again!


	21. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 10

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk TEN. Well, now I can guarantee that there will be more than 10 chunks, as we're at 10 right now and the story is still far from over. I estimate at least 4-6 more chunks left in the story overall, and at least 130+ pages total on the finished product. And again, I would ask that anyone who has made comments and think I might have replied to them, go to my userpage, scroll down and find the hyperlink that contains "CPComments", which is where I have responded to numerous reviews and E-mails concerning the story. Thank you.

**Chapter XXIII**

Mewtwo awoke on his own, not influenced by the fact that it had been day for some time now on the planet that he had chosen. He felt hundreds of times better, but could still sleep some more if he so desired. But with the clearer head that the rest had afforded him, when he saw how many potions were left, he realized how short on time he was. He downed one of the potions and took off.

Mewtwo again traveled for an extensive period of time, what seemed like a day and a half, when he finally saw a promising sight in the distance. He tripled his speed, now knowing he would need to conserve no longer, and silently cut through space like a speeding razor blade. As he neared, his heart filled with joy and hope, brilliant white ships came more into focus as he approached. The tingling feeling that had guided him grew into a shining orb of starlight in his mind, and he nearly sang to himself as he approached the ships.

There were ten ships of varying sizes, four bulking carriers, two deadly armed battlecruisers, and four smaller frigates. No doubt the carriers each held their own hosts of fighters. Mewtwo knew there would be hope if he brought them to Hyrule in time. As he got close to them however, his bubble collided with the ships' energy shields and Mewtwo cried out in surprise and frustration.

"Let me in!" He shouted physically and psychically. A few of the carrier's laser pods turned to face him, but did not fire. A few moments passed before a psychic reply came to him.

"Who are you? What do you seek from us?" A voice asked.

"I am Mewtwo, the original! I come to seek counsel with Lightest!" Mewtwo called back. He felt a slight feeling of surprise in the psychic carrier wave and waited as all fell silent again. And then, the energy shield in front of him opened a hole just small enough for his bubble to fit through. He flied through and found a small airlock in the hull swishing open. A gale of air blasted out and stopped abruptly, and Mewtwo entered the airlock. The door closed behind him, and a small clank signaled the sealing of the door.

The walls of the ship around him were sterile and white, plates of white alloys composed the bulkhead with only a small glowing keypad in the wall as an interface. The buttons were large enough for his fingers. As he observed the interior of the airlock, Mewtwo heard air hissing back into the room as it re-pressurized, and waited until he felt no vacuum tugging on his bubble before letting it fade away. The air in the ship felt cleaner and cooler, and Mewtwo breathed deep the refreshing and soothing air. Then, gravity suddenly kicked in and he fell forward onto his face. He stood and picked up his significantly lighter supplies and tried best to look presentable as the inner airlock doors opened.

Mewtwo wasn't exactly ready to see more clones of himself, but he was not especially alarmed because the one who met him at the door was benevolent feeling, with white fur on its body and light blue on the tail and its eyes, an exact copy of how Mewtwo remembered lightest. The copy did not wear any armor, it only held a small keypad in its right hand and wore a small headset that had a display curving around in front of its right eye. It smiled and him and spoke.

"So you are the original. Lightest will want to speak with you right away." The copy said gently.

The copy lead Mewtwo through the ship. It lead him through long, well lit corridors, past more copies working on repairing a damaged section of ductwork, through many doors, up an elevator, and up to a door labeled "Bridge" It pressed a sequence of buttons on the keypad and the door opened. What was inside was an impressive sight to any creature's eyes. The bridge was approximately 40 feet long and ten feet wide, control panels covered virtually every surface except the floor and ceiling, and glimmering holographic displays filled the air. Some displays showed tactical maps, different courses and numbers of ships played through different scenarios in the blink of an eye. Others displayed statistics about the ship, such as engines, weapons and shields status. And others gave camera views of the space outside the ship, giving many different angles of the same ships that flew alongside this one. The room was abuzz with activity, hundreds of identical looking copies were milling about the control panels and displays, many were seated and were entering instructions into the computer, and many were moving between stations to perform random tasks. But they all fell still and silent when Mewtwo entered the room. They turned to stare at him in awe, wonder and shock.

"It is him the original!" all of them suddenly said in chorus, as if they were one mind using many mouths to talk.

"Quickly! Warm up the interdimensional drives, we must bring him to Lightest!" The one who had guided Mewtwo said.

"You mean Lightest isn't on this ship or any of the others in this formation?" Mewtwo asked, suddenly feeling pressed for time.

"No, we must travel back to the original dimension to find him." The guide replied.

"Will that take long?" Mewtwo asked.

"Only an hour's worth of interdimensional travel. Our slipspace drive technology has been advancing rapidly and we will interface with home base and the main fleet soon."

"Very good." Mewtwo said, his stress leaving him. "I have need to talk to Lightest on many serious matters. But in the mean time, do you have anything decent for me to eat? I've been living off of dry, hard bread and tough salty meat for weeks now."

"I can have someone escort you to a room that you can use as temporary quarters. There you will find a food synthesizer that can generate any type of sustenance you desire."

"Good, let's do it right away, I'm hungry and tired, and would like a bit of rest." Mewtwo said. He could still use a bit more sleep even after what he guessed was a 15 hour sleep back on that mysterious planet.

**Chapter XXIV**

It seemed that the call buzzer rang as soon as Mewtwo had laid his head down on the pillow in his quarters. An hour of sleep whizzed past before he even knew it and he had to return to the bridge of the ship as it made contact with the main fleet. The crew of copies was cleaning the ship thoroughly, scrubbing the metal plates with bleach and shining them until they were even more brilliant than before. As he entered the bridge, he saw that the entire front of the room was filled with a holographic screen, showing the space directly in front of the ship. Mewtwo looked on in awe. The entire view screen was filled with glimmering white ships. Ships of different sizes and classes were mixed in individual phalanxes and there were too many to count. Mewtwo estimated that there were at least five hundred thousand ships in the view screen, and there were probably more beyond the limits of what the camera saw. And in the center of the screen was a massive flagship. It was beyond comparison with the largest of the other classes, it was practically the size of a planet. There were hundreds of docks along its hull, many big enough for carriers and battlecruisers to dock in.

The ship that Mewtwo was in was approaching this massive flagship, and as they came closer, Mewtwo made out thousands of individual weapons turrets, torpedo bays, and large energy cannons. This flagship was powerful enough to decimate an entire fleet on its own. Mewtwo felt the ship's direction shift under his feet, and the view screen came to a stop directly in front of the ship's hull. Energy shields flashed and then deactivated, and then the ship moved upwards parallel to the flagship's hull until it found a carrier sized docking port. It moved gently inside, inching until a thump indicated they had contacted the docking arms. Some more thumping and clanging resonated through the hull as the latches clamped onto the hull. The carrier suddenly jolted slightly as the arms adjusted, moving the ship upwards a bit in order to align the airlocks for entry. Another slight rattle was felt as the airlocks clamped onto the ship and pressurized. Then total silence fell. The crew of copies in the bridge around Mewtwo suddenly stopped what they were doing and walked to the center of the bridge to stand in attention.

Only a minute or two passed when the door to the bridge slid open and another familiar face strode in. Lightest's angel wings brushed gently through the doorway and he strode right up to Mewtwo with suspicion in his eyes. "How can this be possible? How and why are you here?" Lightest asked briskly.

"Just read my mind, it'll save a lot of breath and time." Mewtwo said.

Lightest tilted his head slightly and then nodded. Mewtwo didn't even feel it as Lightest quickly accessed his memories and pulled back out, Lightest was certainly more courteous with mind intrusion than Darkest had been.

"I do not mean to be rude, but you my friend have acted quite foolishly by meddling in the time-space continuum as such." Lightest said frankly.

Mewtwo lowered his head a bit. "Yes, I know."

"Well, I don't know if this situation has been directly caused by your messing with the time stream, but the simple fact that I can't see Darkest's next actions is a serious disadvantage to us."

Mewtwo felt ashamed of himself, he looked down at his feet and mentally slapped himself.

"But, the fact that Darkest doesn't know what we are planning next also gives us an advantage." Lightest said with a somewhat devious grin. "Now, we need to get to this planet quickly, if your memories serve correctly then we only have a day and a half to get there before Darkest begins the invasion. We need to act fast.

Mewtwo perked up, glad that there would be some action now. Lightest turned to one of the crew members and spoke to him, and that copy then saluted and walked off briskly. Lightest then turned and faced the entire crew.

"Alright, warm the interdimensional drives back up again and plot a course back to the dimension you came from. We're going into battle with Darkest's forces in that sector, so have the weapons systems online and warmed up as well." Lightest turned to Mewtwo. "And you can come with me."

Mewtwo followed Lightest out of the bridge and into a hallway. They turned a short corner to find an airlock opening into the flagship that they had docked with. They walked through and the door to the carrier sealed behind them. An almost unnoticeable jolt snuck through the floor as the carrier was suddenly let free by all the docking clamps. The inside of the flagship was identical to the carrier, white polished metal panels arranged in an orderly pattern with only keypads at the doors to break the clean cut monotony. They turned around a smooth corner and found a medium sized circular door.

"This ship, the LFS Dream, is my life's work." Lightest said, dialing a sequence of buttons on the keypad. "It's so incredibly massive that we need to use teleportation systems to cover distances inside it."

As Lightest spoke, the circular doors slid open to reveal a six foot diameter circular room. They walked in and the door closed, and the thought entered Mewtwo's mind that it was somewhat like standing inside a giant soda can. And then, a quick flash of fluorescent green filled his senses and the room changed slightly in an instant. A distinguishing mark on the door vanished, and Mewtwo knew that they had just been teleported. The door slip open and they continued walking down the halls.

"The ship is powered by almost forty nuclear fission reactors, and we have been experimenting with antimatter propulsion for a time now." Lightest continued. "If we were able to make it work, one antimatter drive would replace all 38 fission cores on this ship. It's amazing technology, but also incredibly volatile. That's why were' also experimenting with it for weapons purposes."

They passed through several doors and through many hallways until they turned a corner to face a set of doors of average size that were covered with swirling gold inlays. Lightest entered some figures into a keypad and the doors slid open to a bridge that made the carrier's bridge look like a sandbox. The LFS Dream's bridge was only a bit smaller than a football field and roughly the same shape. On both ends of the room the stations sloped upwards slightly to make the center of the room lower than the two ends. There were hundreds of flickering view screens in the room, around 35 officers, all the same light copies of Mewtwo, were mulling at stations of moving from station to station. One gigantic view screen was splashed across the wall opposite the one that Mewtwo and Lightest entered through, and it displayed a tactical map of their entire fleet and Darkest's fleet. Darkest's fleet was substantially smaller, there were two carriers in Lightest's fleet for every one in Darkest's.

As Mewtwo and Lightest walked into the center of the room, Mewtwo indicated the tactical map. "Couldn't you easily defeat his fleet at this point? Your fleet is much larger!" Mewtwo said.

"We could, we were actually about to strike at them when we got the signal from the carrier that they had found you. And now I know where all of Darkest's other ships have gone. Instead of being here to defend against me, they're invading Hyrule. We should move out now, but still leave enough ships to defend against attack from the forces he still has here." Lightest said, walking over to a circular hologram table that was in the dead center of the room.

The hologram table showed a 3D version of the tactical map that was on the main screen. The scale of the map was astounding. A tiny little pinprick on the map represented a cluster of capital ships. Small readouts hovered over each dot, telling the amount of ships in each cluster and what kind of ships they were made up of. The lettering of each readout was almost to small to read, and thousands of the dots swarmed the 3D map. Mewtwo looked down at one point of light and read it's readout. It indicated that the cluster contained 15 battlecruisers and 12 carriers, along with an entire squadron of frigates, totaling 60 of the smaller ships. He looked at another cluster, and it contained a similar number of ships. He tried to count how many clusters were displayed, but the swarms were bafflingly numerous. Mewtwo guessed that there could be up to three million ships represented in the entire fleet, not counter fightercraft which were docked and did not show up on the map.

"This force is beyond comprehension!" Mewtwo stammered. "With the amount of crew it would take to keep each ship fully manned, you mist have billions and billions of clones!"

"That's right, around 12 billion overall." Lightest said. "This is only a rough quarter of all the ships in my empire as well. I have 9 million ships that are frigate class or larger."

Mewtwo simply stared in awe at the map, his mind overloaded trying to comprehend the power of Lightest's Empire. He simply couldn't, if each clone individually had the same amount of power as he, the original did, then if all of them pooled their energy it would be enough to create or wipe out entire galaxies in a single stroke, maybe even whole universes. And each ship in the fleet was loaded with energy weapons as well, if all of Lightest's forces were to gather into one army, it would be completely unstoppable, it would contain power to rival the gods themselves.

"That's right." Lightest said, nodding.

"You read my mind?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yes. But I can assure you that my entire fleet would never be able to pool its power like that, it has to remain evenly distributed across multiple universes and dimensions in order to keep up our failing attempts at containing Darkest's forces. Slowly, he is stretching us thinner and thinner, knowing that I can't let him simply destroy world with impunity. He is using me good nature against me, so that I'll stretch my fleet thinner and thinner until he can strike decisively."

"But surely these efforts are spreading his fleet thin as well!" Mewtwo said.

"To an extent. But he has the advantage. His gorilla tactics are slowly stymieing my forces and dragging them down into individual wars from which there are no feasible exit strategies. And at the same time, I cannot let him run rampant across worlds, sacking and burning them, killing billions of innocents. It is who I am to keep these things from happening. All the while he lures my forces into more and more compromising situations while still maintaining a strong centralized position. His tactics are like that of bees, individuals sting on the outskirts while the hive still protects its nest."

As Lightest spoke, the map on the table shifted. It crossed a few sparse light-years to another seeming cloud of points of light. These were also indications of ship clusters, they were tinted in red and indicated Darkest's fleet. Mewtwo stared down into them and saw that the ships had formed a defensive orb formation, they were all bunched around 2 or three solar systems in a defensive posture. Small lines webbed through the clusters, indicating a large structure of some sort.

"What you see is an automated defense grid. It is nothing but a thinly spread mesh of space stations surrounding his space, covered in high powered energy cannons. They are powerful enough to pierce an energy shield in three shots. This grid provides support for the inner solar systems that Darkest's main production stations inhabit."

"I don't understand, if their defenses are so powerful, why were you going to attack them?" Mewtwo asked.

"No no, we weren't going to attack their inner space, we were going to attack the small fleet stationed nearby. We would defeat this fleet and build a staging area there from which we could prepare an attack strong enough to challenge their defensive grid. Darkest has known about the plan for a long time, and I was going to use this against him to pull a surprise action at the last second. But a week ago, suddenly our psychic link was severed somehow and his new tactics have eluded me. Now I see that he has diverted most of his strength to take Hyrule, and it mystifies me somewhat. If it would only take one carrier full of Centurions to defeat Hyrule, then why did he send half of his posted secondary defensive fleet? He knows it will make my attack against his inner systems a lot easier."

"Maybe he expects you to intervene in his invasion of Hyrule, forgetting all about your main assault on his home systems?"

"That can't be possible, our link has been severed for too long and you do not even enter into his mind because he still thinks the time stream is where it should be. He thinks you split into him and me almost eight hundred years ago, and that you aren't here telling me all this. This is where our advantage lies." Lightest said.

"Then we should press both fronts at once, with a delay in between!" Mewtwo said. We will take a significant number of ships to halt his attempts at Hyrule, and a few days later you can attack his stationed fleet as originally planned! He has already divided his force for you, now all you need to do is drive the wedge further in, and destroy his fleet in two strokes!"

"I can already see where I got my tactical intelligence from." Lightest said, smiling and tapping his head.

"Yeah, eight hundred years of fleet building and fighting a foe who will see your next action before you can take it." Mewtwo said, returning the smile.

"Alright, so now we just need to work out the specifics." Lightest said. "Were you ever able to ascertain the amount of ships in orbit around Hyrule?"

"What you saw in my memory is all I know. All I remember is that they filled the sky in a spread out web."

"Well, I think we can assume that they took a large amount of ships with them, considering how many are missing from his stationed fleet."

"How many are missing?" Mewtwo asked."

"Last recon shows that around 12000 ships are missing."

"That's insignificant compared to the size of your fleet! Look, the main view screen must be inaccurate, it clearly portrays your fleet as being substantially larger than his!" Mewtwo said, waving at the image on the wall.

"That's the tactical map of a battle currently occurring in a completely different dimension, it's unrelated to what is going on now." Lightest said.

"I see. So we should take around 17000 ships with us to attack Darkest's invasion of Hyrule?" Mewtwo asked.

"I was thinking 20000 would suffice. Darkest's standing fleet was already slightly smaller than mine in this sector anyway, I was simply stalling for time until the right moment to attack. And now that the link has been severed, the right time is now." Lightest said.

That table shifted back to Lightest's fleet, and Lightest suddenly reached out onto the table with both arms and grasped handfuls of cluster representations in his hands. He moved them away from the rest of the fleet and then reached back and enetered some commands into a keypad. The clusters that he had grabbed and moved suddenly disappeared through miniature representations of dimensional portals. Large letters flashed over the map that read "Time passage: two days", and then all the clusters of the main fleet began to move. They crossed the distance over to the outer Perimeters of Darkest's space and met with thousands of red clusters. Then another blinking set of letters flashed over the hologram: "Unable to predict battle outcome".

"It will still be relatively close." Lightest said, "But I think that this divide and conquer strategy we've cooked up is enough to push us over the border of uncertainty into victory."

Lightest extended his hand, and Mewtwo blinked, and then took his hand and shook it. It was the first time he had shaken hands with someone whose hands were identical to his, and it felt strange, in a good way.

**Chapter XXV**

Lightest offered Mewtwo a room to rest in after they finished their strategy counsel, but he declined. After seeing the scale of the war and helping plan a part in its strategy, Mewtwo was suddenly filled with excitement. He stayed in the bridge and walked around observing the actions being processed and made. Lightest gave a quick debriefing to his bridge crew of their new plan, and as soon as he initiated the orders for the ships to move out, Mewtwo felt the ship lurch through his feet.

"Interdimensional drives are hot and ready to fire sir!" An officer shouted from his station.

"Good, move the ships out on their regular reactors until we reach minimum distance from the fleet and fire the Interdimensional drives." Lightest yelled back at the copy, who waved his tail in acknowledgement.

The main strategic screen which had show the other unrelated battle earlier now flicked over to the ship's outside camera's first showing empty space in front of the LFS dream and then to the fleet behind it. The swarms of ships slowly became smaller and smaller as they moved off slowly, but no matter how far they got from the fleet it was still big enough to fill the entire view screen and Mewtwo still wasn't quite adjusted to such a vast amount of ships. The view screen flicked to a side view and showed the other ships that traveled alongside the flagship; they were in hundreds of ordered lines and phalanxes and bristled with guns and cannons. Mewtwo suddenly smiled at the thought of the look of surprise that would splash upon Darkest's face when he would first see the miniature fleet that would come knocking at the door of his invasion. And suddenly, the view screen snapped off and the ship jolted again as the interdimensional drives suddenly ripped a portal in the dimensional walls and the ship entered. Mewtwo knew the beautiful sight that awaited just outside the hull, he remembered the swirling rainbows of mixing colored energy that the dimensional tunnel held. He remembered it well, still clearly from the day he had left the Pokemon world to eventually get pulled into a post apocalyptic Hyrule.

"ETA is one hour, four minutes and 12 seconds!" Another copy shouted across the room.

"What is the status of the Dimensional tunnel?" Lightest asked, hovering through the air across the room. Mewtwo followed on foot.

The light clone who was sitting at his station tapped his panel elegantly, evidenced of great skill in keyboarding. "Scan data is being received and processed now…" He said.

Lightest and Mewtwo leaned over his shoulder and looked at the readout on the small screen in front of him. It simply stated "Processing" over a small progress bar. The bar rapidly moved from 50 to 100 in a few minutes. As it completed, a list of data sprawled out across the screen.

"Tunnel stability normal, energy surge levels at normal strength, no dimensional, temporal, or energy anomalies detected." The clone said, skimming the data. "Wait, I think there's something here.."

Mewtwo and Lightest stood silent and watched as the clone scrolled the screen across a small, almost undetectable blip along the line indicating energy signatures. He highlighted the blip and enlarged it and enhanced the signal, using the computer to analyze it in all spectrums.

"I think we might have company." The clone said, staring at the screen. Suddenly, the computer finished the analysis and flashed a match indicator window at the bottom of the screen. The signature they had detected was identical to the energy signatures of the Interdimensional drives on Darkest's ships. "Make that definite company sir, we've got relatives coming and it's not just for a friendly dinner."

"Right then." Lightest said, reaching a hand over the officer's control panel. He pressed a small inconspicuous red button and suddenly the lights in the room changed from white to red and a smooth yet loud klaxon sounded on the ship's com system.

"High priority combat alert!" Lightest shouted, floating back through the air to the other side of the bridge. Mewtwo jogged along behind.

The red lights lit up on all the other ships as well, and weapons systems began to warm up. All were tense and slightly shaken, combat had never been attempted inside a dimensional slipstream before.

"Ops officer 384, can you get me the number and types of ships coming our way, and a confirmed intercept trajectory?" Lightest asked.

"Scan data is being processed…wait, here we go. We've got around 10000 ships trailing behind us, mostly frigates with only a few scattered capital ships. They are on a direct intercept course, but they will not intercept us until we exit the dimensional tunnel. They will engage us approximately seven and a half minutes after we exit the dimensional tunnel." The ops officer said.

"We have time, and it seems that they're only sending the bare minimum to stop us. They must have only just detected our departure and followed in blind pursuit. Darkest would not send a fleet of mostly frigates against 20000 capital ships and my flagship. They must be some bloodthirsty underlings of his craving battle. We will defeat them easily. Lower our ships to moderate priority combat alert, and make sure we're ready to fight after exiting the dimensional tunnel" Lightest said.

"Yes sir." The ops officer replied, typing masterfully.

"It's too strange to be true." Mewtwo suddenly said. Lightest looked at him expectantly. Either darkest has predicted our actions or he has only barely assembled that interception forces at the last second after seeing our departure. Something doesn't feel quite right."

"I know, it seems suspicious to me as well, but now we can only hope for the best be as best prepared as we can for whatever will happen. We have 45 minutes until arrival now, so if you can think up anything, then do so within that time." Lightest said.

"You will try as well?" Mewtwo asked. Lightest nodded. They both sat down around the holographic table and thought deeply.

**Interlude 2**

"It has been almost 3 weeks since the link has been severed, and now I think I have discovered why. The Time-space continuum has been becoming more and more unstable with every passing week, I can feel it in the inherent energy of the universe. Soon physical distortions will start to form in space itself, and the entire continuum could snap in less than a month. And here right on deck with me is the reason; the original has appeared in this time. It is practically impossible, but apparently a loop paradox has occurred in the time stream and has brought the original here. The separation wars have apparently caused singularities in the space between dimensions and one has pulled the original into our time. And since the time stream has not flashed into an alternate formation, it is safe to assume that a loop has formed. But why the instabilities haven't caused the entire universe to collapse is beyond me, I can sense some odd energy present in the continuum that I can't even track with the contributed energy from all of my army. It seems only time will tell whether the instabilities will stabilize or if we will all be destroyed by a fate which in itself has not even come to pass.

A/N: Whoo! Now you've gotta admit that this chunk was awesome huh? Space tactics are fun to read and even more fun to write! The story is starting to escalate into more and more exciting regions, and yet another interlude makes its appearance. The interlude aught to answer some questions about the story and then raise some more. What happens in the next chunk is going to be a real doozy! Read and let the excitement grip you, and then tell me what you think!


	22. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 11

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk ELEVEN. Not much to say at this Author's note, except that I've been having a total blast writing this! If you enjoy reading it just half as much as I enjoy writing it, then you have been coming close to tearing up your mouse cord with exitment. Seriously, writing this chunk was like drinking eighteen cups of coffee and eating twelve large chocolate bars, I was overwhelmed!

**Chapter XXVI**

"Sir, we've got a problem!" An officer on the bridge of the LFS Dream shouted.

"What is it?" Lightest asked, gliding over to the copy. Mewtwo followed.

"There has been an accident on Carrier 79346, an explosion on board has damaged several of their non-vital systems and has killed several crewmen. They are requesting additional crew in order to maintain functionality of their vessel." The copy said, reading the message as it played across the holographic view screen.

"We're already stretched thin here on the Dream, do any other ships have excess personnel?" Lightest asked.

""Sending inquiry now sir." The copy replied.

Lightest turned to Mewtwo grimly. "You're going to have to help them."

"I have no technical knowledge or space combat skills!" Mewtwo protested, suddenly nervous. This whole situation had sprung up before he could say anything about it and it was thoroughly shaking to him.

"It doesn't matter, they will project the instructions directly into your mind if need be." Lightest said.

Before Mewtwo could reply with more excuses, he felt the world whiz around him and his vision blurred out temporarily as he was teleported. He suddenly found himself in the smaller bridge of the carrier in question, and red lights flashed through the room. A copy ran up to him and spoke.

"Lightest sent you, the Original, as our bolster?" The copy said.

"I didn't have a say in it, that's for sure." Mewtwo grumbled.

"Quickly, there isn't much time. Follow me." The copy said, dashing through and open door and down the hallway.

Mewtwo followed the copy through the bowels of the ship, and the continuous red lights and loud klaxon became more and more annoying to Mewtwo as he followed the copy through twisting hallways and up through power-lifts.

"We haven't yet discovered what caused the explosion," The copy began, seemingly reading Mewtwo's mind, "But we have confirmed the extent of the damage. Parts of our main computer core were damaged or destroyed by a surge caused by the explosion, and this has caused the automated point defense system to go offline. Now we still have our guns, but there is no-one to aim and fire them. Also, parts of our inertial dampening system have been damaged as well, so certain parts of the ship are being put under physical strain."

"So what can I do?" Mewtwo asked.

"You're going to be a gunner in our rearmost laser turret, taking the place of our automated defense system. The manual operation of the turret is simple, aim with the control sticks and fire by pressing the red buttons." The copy said.

Suddenly, they came up to the end of the hallway, a ladder proceeded down through the floor to the bottom deck and a sealed pressure hatch door was on the ceiling above. The copy reached up, twisted a latch, and pulled the hatch door open. What was beyond the door was a six foot diameter translucent dome, within witch rested a large tubular machine. The whole machine was filled with glowing blue apertures and two turrets extended outside the clear dome into open space. The flowing colors of the dimensional tunnel pulsed past outside the dome. A simple chair was attached to the machine, from which a "U" shaped control arm extended. The entire construction was attached to multiple rotating bases. Silently, a ladder extended down from inside the turret and Mewtwo reluctantly climbed up and inside. He suddenly felt a powerful pull and was forced backwards into the chair.

"That's the inertial dampeners, they don't have much effect on the outside turrets. Don't' worry, you'll never experience enough force to be dangerous, but be ready for a gut shifting ride." The copy said up through the hatch.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning." Mewtwo said, thoroughly irritated with this whole situation.

"Good luck." The Copy said, and suddenly the hatch closed up.

Mewtwo admired the design of the turret, despite the fact that he didn't really want to be in it. The chair had an appropriate sized hole for his tail to fit through, so he wouldn't have to sit on it. The chair itself also seemed to mold to his anatomy, and felt surprisingly comfortable. A seat belt dangled over the side of the chair, and Mewtwo sighed and pulled around him to buckle up. The inertial forces in this room would probably toss him about if he didn't. He then grabbed the control stick in his hands and felt it match perfectly with his hand design. The trigger buttons were positioned perfectly and it felt overall ergonomic in the turret despite the fact that it was so cramped. Mewtwo moved the controls to the right, and suddenly the entire turret moved to the right. Mewtwo pointed the controls down, and the two barrels of the laser cannon moved down to the border of the dome with the ship. Mewtwo experimented with its entire range of movement, to see its swiveling bases could face it anywhere outside the ship.

Mewtwo noticed another button, this one on the center of the controls. He pressed it and a small whirring sound was all he heard at first. And then a small clear green visor slid over his head and in front of his eyes. It registered the other ships in Lightest's force with green arrows. He turned the turret to face the rear of the ship and looked backwards into the tunnel. The visor electronically picked up three hundred small red dots and outlined them with red arrows. It also stated simply that they were far out of range of the turret.

"10 minutes of trip time remaining before exiting the dimensional tunnel, we are returning to high priority combat alert." An announcement called out in Mewtwo's head, and Mewtwo recognized Lightest's voice.

Mewtwo felt a slight jarring in the ships frame and darted his eyes around the red dots in the distance, but Darkest's ships were too far out to have hit them. The ship must be experiencing difficulties. As time passed, Mewtwo watched with anticipation as the red outlined targets grew larger in his vision. More and more appeared out of the distance and they continued to approach closer and closer when a rocking jolt rocked the ship. The ten minutes had passed quickly, and suddenly the glowing colors of the dimensional tunnel fell away to the darkness of real space. Mewtwo watched as Darkest's ships followed them out of the tunnel and continued to approach. The targeting visor diligently displayed their closing distance and remained insistent that they were out of range.

"We're detecting an electromagnetic anomaly!" A psychic voice announced through Mewtwo's mind, speaking to all crew members.

"Then prepare for battle right now, because we're about to be dragged down." Lightest's voice replied.

Suddenly, a blue-white orb of energy leapt forward from Darkest's pursuing ships. It flew up to Lightest's ships, reaching a point where it flew between the ships, and suddenly exploded in a flash of electrical light. Mewtwo closed his eyes, and felt nothing as the light passed. And then, he felt the slight hum of the ship's engines fade and he opened his eyes to see the other ships in the fleet had also lost their engines. "EMP" Mewtwo thought to himself. He turned his gun on the approaching ships, and when the red arrows finally indicated minimum range had been achieved, he lined the ships up his crosshairs and pressed the fire buttons on his control stick. Luckily, the EMP had not affected the cannons, because they burst to life and barked rapid fire bolts of blue light at Darkest's ships.

**Chapter XXVII**

Hundreds of thousands of laser bolts showered through space as Darkest's ships roared forwards towards Lightest's immobilized fleet. The maelstrom of plasma and laser filled the rapidly shrinking space between the two forces and energy shields suddenly glowed to life and visibility underneath the barrages of energy. The thousands of black frigates were almost there when Lightest's carriers began emptying their fighter bays. There were around 1100 carriers in the force that Lightest had brought, and each one carried almost 400 fighters. When all of them launched their fighters at once, they formed a blurry white cloud in space. The frigates plowed into this cloud, laser cannons blazing, and balls of orange flame popped through space like popcorn.

Mewtwo held his gun always on the ships that were closes to him. The entire turret rattled as the laser cannon poured concentrated light into space. The only sound Mewtwo heard was the smooth hum that the laser generator emitted and the rattling of the metal as it vibrated slightly from the force of the beams it was projecting. The turret swiveled wildly as he chased individual ships away from his carrier's engines. A damaged black frigate screamed towards him, trying to make a kamikaze attack on the ship's engines. Mewtwo held the beams on this ship, and it slowly contorted and melted under the continuing fire. It suddenly exploded, the heat reaching its fuel tanks and the concussion from the near proximity of the explosion shook the turret violently. Mewtwo wiped the sweat from his brow and found another ship to fire at.

The attacking frigates were outnumbered by the fighters nearly 10 to 1, and it did not take long for them to be dispatched. As the laser fire diminished and the last orange explosions faded into the blackness, the targeting visor on Mewtwo's head suddenly beeped loudly and projected a red flashing arrow towards the back of the ship. He swiveled the turret around to look, and saw that there were still around 300 capital ships in Darkest's force that had not engaged in combat. They were sitting back and firing their weapons from a distance, and great bolts of plasma screamed into Lightest's fleet. A few ships down, a white battlecruiser suddenly mushroomed into a gigantic ball of flame as continued punishment finally reached its reactors. The concussion knocked other ships away like toys, causing some to be severely damaged as they collided with others. And the objects that had caused Mewtwo's visor to beep suddenly became visible. Eighteen monstrously large missiles were moving slowly through space towards them.

"Don't fire, they are antimatter rockets and if detonated near us, they will destroy the entire fleet!" Lightest cried out psychically to his ships.

Mewtwo panicked, not able to do anything as the missiles lumbered through space toward them. And then an idea struck him. He called out to Lightest and his copies for energy contributions, and psychically reached out to the missiles. The Triforce piece in his hand was quelled by the extra energy that Lightest and his copies sent, and Mewtwo simply bent the directional fins on the missiles with his mind. They suddenly turned off course and began flying in circles. Both fleets stood still as the missiles spun around and around, until at last their propulsion systems ran out of fuel and fell quiet. They hovered motionless in space, their deadly warheads still active. Neither fleet dared to fire any of their weapons for fear of detonating the missiles, for they were equally close to both. Minutes passed in deadlock, and finally a voice broke the silence.

"We've got our engine coils replaced and functional!" Lightest cried out to the rest of the fleet.

Suddenly, blue flashes illuminated the backs of all of Lightest's fleets as their engines finally came back on line. The floor shuddered under Mewtwo's feet as his carrier's engines suddenly came back to life. The ship began to move and picked up speed, and Darkest's ships began to move in pursuit as well. They simply flew around the 18 missiles and pursued hotly as Lightest's ships gained significant velocity. As they reached maximum velocity, Darkest's ships began gaining once again. But the circumstances were different this time around, they didn't have any EMP to fire anymore and they were far more severely outnumbered. But they dumbly followed anyway. Lightest's ships then began to drop plasma proximity mines, small spiked cubes of steel that tumbled out of their containment pods and into space where they became active.

Darkest's ships again followed blindly, plowing right through the mines and taking heavy damage. Black carriers and battlecruisers mushroomed into great explosions as the mines were sucked into their engines and detonated. As the mines were exhausted, still 150 ships still followed. Lightest's ships, out of mines, began to launch high power chemical torpedoes. The small glowing pods looked harmless as the rocketed back and stuck to the hulls of Darkest's ships, but after a few seconds they detonated into balls of green flame. The chemicals they released then began dissolving the hulls of the ships rapidly, and many of the ships suddenly fell dead as they were completely depressurized and became crewless. Mewtwo wondered how the torpedoes had even gotten through their shields. Another ship blossomed into a great ball of flame as a torpedo was sucked into its engines and detonated. Not a single sound or concussion from the explosions made it to Mewtwo's little turret.

As supplies of torpedoes were exhausted as well, most of them exploding ineffectually or missing, only a sparse few ships remained. At this point, they finally found their sense and quit the pursuit. They retreated back almost sullenly, and Mewtwo suddenly heard hundreds of cheers echoing through his head as Lightest and his people rejoiced on both the psychic and physical spectrums. Mewtwo sighed heavily with relief and stood up out of the chair. He found the latch on the door underneath him and popped it open, then he climbed down the ladder and into the hallway below. He then sighed and concentrated until he could see the bridge of the LFS Dream in his head, and then teleported.

**Chapter XXVIII**

Hyrule field shook and rocked under numerous explosions. Bolts of boiling red plasma rocketed down through the atmosphere and cratered the field as the ships orbited around its atmosphere. The scenario played out almost exactly the same as before, Zelda had gotten someone else to create the Extra Light Arrows and place the Medallions for her, and the barrier slid up over the castle as planned. But there was not as much energy this time without Mewtwo's presence, and Zelda and the sages were pale and solemn, the futility of the situation apparent to them without Mewtwo there to contribute. The people of Hyrule were on the verge of panic as they were lead down under the castle by a silent messenger and the soldiers on the walls faltered in their courage. A few scattered soldiers went completely insane and ran out of the castle and into the field, only to be instantly vaporized by the plasma barrage right before their comrades' eyes.

The heat from the barrage caused a hot wind to blow violently across the land, and the soldiers that stood on the wall felt that their times would soon come. As the barrage fell silent, the wind did as well and the air became stifling. Silence filled the atmosphere and the Hylians and Gerudos who manned the wall only barely kept their minds in control from paralyzing fear. And yet again, the balls of fire formed in the sky as the dropships began to burn through the atmosphere. All eyes climbed to the fire in the sky, and time seemed to stand still as they approached. They burned and roared down to hit the field in jarring explosions. Again the tanks and APC's poured out and grouped around their landing site, and the black carrier descended down to hover over the field just as it had done before. The walkers and cannons were lowered and set up, and as the ranks and lines were finally prepared, a sudden flashing filled the sky. Only a few soldiers caught notice of it, most of them were transfixed on the invading forces, but those who saw it stared in wonder. The red dots of the Imperial ships were suddenly intruded upon by glowing blue dots, other ships. Blue, orange, and red flashed dotted the sky. The soldiers touched the shoulders of their neighbors and pointed up at the wondrous light show playing out in the sky. More and more blue dots appeared, and they began to fill the space that they pushed the red dots out of. As they continued to seemingly multiply in the sky, they covered a larger and larger part of the sky. And then, a rippling covered the surface of the barrier as the emplaced guns fired. The soldiers turned their attention back to the invasion and knocked arrows as the tanks and APC's began their charge forward.

As the battle unfolded, it did so much, much worse than the first time it had played out. The barrier weakened quickly, and the combined fire from all of the attacking forces brought it down to dangerous levels quickly. It was close to shattering already as the Centurions began to pour out of the APC's, but then a sudden roaring noise caught the attention of every living being on the field and all eyes suddenly turned up to the skies. The Centurions, dumb as they were, knew that there were no more scheduled landings in the invasion, so they too craned their necks upward to look.

Another set of ships was burning down through the atmosphere, but these were coming down from the area in the sky where the blue dots were located. The ships burned through quickly, and the Centurions simply stared stupidly as the ships rocketed down straight toward them. Even more explosions rocked the field, the Castle wall nearly collapsed from the concussions as the ships landed directly outside the barrier. The barrier shuddered as the explosions from the ships landing glanced off its side. The Centurions, which were at ground Zero for the landings of the ships, were pulverized under their crashing bulk. The nearby tanks and APC's were set off in their own explosions by the concussions of the landing ships as well and burst like firecrackers once more. And then, bolts of blue plasma screamed down from the sky toward the hovering black carrier.

The carrier's shield only held for a few moments under the unrelenting torrents of plasma bolts, and it gave way quickly. The plasma cut directly through the carrier like hot knives through butter, and it suddenly lost power to its hover drives and fell out of the sky. The ground heaved as the carrier, hundreds of tons of metal, fell and hit the center of the field. The earth around the carrier was thrown up into the air in a miniature tidal wave of brown and black. More plasma bolts struck the fallen carrier repeatedly until hundreds of explosioins engulfed it and nothing was left. It's failsafe systems had engaged and locked down its reactors just in time to prevent a thermonuclear explosion. As the barrage ended, all that remained was a molten pool of slag.

As the smoke from the landing collisions cleared, around 35 white dropships became visible around the barrier. A door slid open on one, and all Hylian eyes in range of it jumped down to see. As the door opened, another form similar to a Centurion stepped out. But it was not black; it was purple and wore no armor. It flew up to the wall and the Hylians suddenly snapped into recognition. A roar of cheers and whoops of victory roared from every throat at the sight of the savior Mewtwo and the white ships he had brought. He had finally saved Hyrule.

A/N: I know that this was three pages short of a standard chunk, but It was such an incredibly exciting write that I felt I needed to share it with you now. That and there needs to be a bit of a period of a breather before diving back into the tension. If you even dare to think it's close to being over though, you're very much wrong! There's still plenty more that will happen! Stay tuned and keep with the great reviewing!


	23. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 12

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk TWELVE. You'll never guess what's going to happen in this next chunk, it's a plot twist like none I've ever written! I'm sorry it took so long to get this one written, I was having a hard time writing a good transition from the last chunk and ended up deleting and rewriting 7 pages several times just because they didn't quite work out. But now, here it is! Enjoy!

**Chapter XXIX**

The rejoicing of the Hylian people was with all of their hearts and their minds, the Invasion had been completely destroyed through their eyes, and they felt that they could return to their lives soon and begin rebuilding Hyrule. But an introduction speech from Lightest soon caused faces to turn grim once more.

"The battle may have been won, but the war is far from over." Lightest said, hovering before the wall lined with Soldiers. "I can assure you that Darkest, the head of the invasion and the rest of his Dark Empire, is not through with this world. As I speak to you all, his ships and mine are still locked in battle above our heads. Though my ships outnumber his and we have a significantly more powerful force, he can still launch more dropships as long as he has even one carrier in orbit. I am sure he is preparing to launch them now while he still has the chance. So now, in order to provide enough protection, I would ask that you temporarily open a hole in your barrier to allow me and my light soldiers inside. There we will add all of our collective energy to it so we can hold out against a second wave."

Lightest's words were sobering, but they still held a significant hope for victory. So a messenger was sent to the Chamber of Sages, who opened a small door in the barrier. Light soldiers poured into the castle, almost 200 of them total. With each single one that entered, the barrier tripled in strength. As Lightest and Mewtwo followed up in the back, the barrier snapped closed and pulsed with energy that the Hylians could nevere had dreamed of. It was almost opaque, it glowed so brightly that it was impossible to see anything through it. The Hylians were curious about the Light soldiers, and they looked on at the Original, Mewtwo, as one looks upon a legendary Hero. And peace held over the land for a short while, some soldiers took the chance to use the lavatory properly if they hadn't already done so in their armor from fear of the initial invasion. Others sat down and ate, and a few even felt relaxed enough again to play a game of cards. Lightest and Mewtwo stood tensely on the outer wall of the castle, watching psychically as the battle for Hyrule played out in space just beyond the atmosphere.

They grew less and less tense as time passed, Darkest's forces were on the run, outnumbered more so as the battle progressed And they were being driven back so fast that none of them had the chance to launch any dropships, yet. Lightest knew not to let the barrier fall until Darkest's forces in the sector had been eliminated down to the very last frigate. As the last three black battlecruisers erupted into orange flame, a smile played across his face. The victory was now almost completely assured. His ships could easily attack the carriers without fear of retaliation from the battlecruisers. And now, his fleet had driven Darkest's scattered ships all the way around to the other side of the planet. If they could have seen it through the barrier, they would have seen that the night sky was completely free of all unnatural lights. As the black carriers were slowly whittled down and exploded, cheers of victory reached his mind on psychic waves from his ships. Victory was the universal chant as the last few fighters and frigates were mopped up. But still, Lightest would not let the barrier fade.

And then, if they could have seen it through the barrier, they would have all seen a sudden multicolored flash in the sky as another dimensional portal opened up. Lightest's ships, on the other side of the planet, could not detect the new forces that were now pouring in on the other side of the world. Thousands of new red dots began to fill the sky again, and Lightest and Mewtwo both sensed it before long. And then the light ships on the other side of the world were able to sense them, and new battle cries echoed through the psychic spectrum.

"Do you feel that?" Mewtwo asked.

"Reinforcements." Lightest said grimly. Mewtwo nodded. Already orange balls of fire were appearing in the sky as dropships began to make their descent.

"Incoming!" Lightest suddenly cried at the top of his voice. Hylian and Gerudo soldiers throughout the castle dropped what they were doing and returned to their defensive positions.

Lightest's forces on the other side of the planet kicked their engines into overdrive, trying as best as they could to come around and defend the space directly over Hyrule. But by the time they arrived and engaged Darkest's ships, hundreds of dropships and several carriers had already descended into the atmosphere. And Darkest's reinforcements were continuing to pour out of the dimensional rip, thousands and thousands more ships kept appearing literally out of dimensional nowhere. A beautiful and terrifying lightshow played out over Hyrule, invisible through the barrier, as the two forces exchanged plasma and the invading ships burned through the atmosphere.

Multiple Earth shaking concussions were the signs to Lightest that the battle had reignited, and he squinted to look through the shining barrier. He could barely make out six bulking carriers coming to a stop over the field and directly overhead. Not just hundreds, but thousands of tanks and APC's were pouring of the dropships and hundreds of stationary guns and walkers were already being lowered out of the carriers. Clouds of fighters crammed the air and had to keep tight formation in order to prevent hundreds of collisions. Lines and ranks began to form and Mewtwo sighed, his memories of the last time he had endured and invasion still haunting him. This was many times greater than the one he had previously endured, and his fears and doubts gnawed at him from a pit in his stomach as the tanks prepared to charge.

"Charge light orbs!" Lightest suddenly cried, and the hundreds of light soldiers that swarmed the walls of the castle suddenly raised their arms.

Streams of supporting energy from the crews of the orbiting ships made their way down to the soldiers, and as Mewtwo watched great glowing white orbs of destructive energy formed. They grew in size to around four feet in diameter and shone brighter and brighter. The light soldiers held them, and the tension and anticipation in the air could practically be tasted. And then, the tanks and APC's began the charge. Lightest cried out and pointed, and the light soldiers let their light orbs fly.

What followed was like a tide of destruction, hundreds of tanks and APC's were engulfed in enormous explosions. But their assault did not falter, and many hundreds still pressed on through the smoke and over their burning and cratered comrades. And then, the barrier suddenly vibrated slightly as the thousands of fighters loosed their lasers on it. Then, the emplaced cannons fired their destructive red energy orbs and the walkers began approaching, opening their missile racks. Another volley of light orbs cratered the oncoming tanks, but still many escaped intact. When they had made it close enough to the barrier, the tanks opened fire with their black energy cannons and the APC's all opened their doors. Thousands of Centurions streamed into the fray, and they began pounding on the barrier psychically without bothering to form ranks. More tidal waves of black energy washed against the barrier, chipping away at it faster than Lightest liked. He could not kill them fast enough to prevent them from exhausting their energy and breaking the barrier. And then as he thought this, two of the six barriers began charging their plasma arrays.

"More!" Lightest shouted psychically up towards his ships in orbit. The response he got suddenly filled him with dread, his fleet in orbit around the planet was dwindling rapidly and thousands more black ships continued pouring in through the dimensional tunnel. He commanded the captains of his remaining capital ships to send the rest of their troops in dropships, and he requisitioned three carriers to come down and provide assistance. They broke off of the battle and began descending, and Lightest was thankful that they were not pursued. He was already beginning to feel the collective energy of his forces inside the barrier beginning to dwindle and the barrier weaken.

Two violent volleys of plasma from the black carriers struck the barrier, Mewtwo, Lightest, and all the light soldiers suddenly fell over forwards from the drain on their energy. The barrier had already started to pull on their life force in order to maintain its strength.

"Hurry!" Lightest cried to the descending ships, his breath becoming shallow and labored. He felt sickened when suddenly the walkers began emptying their rocket pods into the barrier.

But now, the Hylians saw an opportunity and took it as the Light soldiers slowly staggered over from energy drain. They saw the Centurions had not put up psychic shields to protect from physical arrows, so they knocked their bows and fired into the swarm. Hundreds of arrows sailed through the barrier and embedded themselves in the flesh of the Centurions. Armor blocked many arrows, but the hand of fate directed most of them to find the chinks in the armor and to find homes in the Centurions' flesh. Large groups of them fell over on top of their neighbors, debilitated by the blows dealt to them. And then, the balls of orange flame in the sky fell to the ground and exploded. Lightest's reinforcements had arrived.

**Chapter XXX**

Light soldiers poured out of the newly arrived dropships, and the black Centurions turned their attention away from Hyrule Castle and the barrier to charge into combat with Lightest's forces. Suddenly, thousands of energy swords glowed to life and the battle on the ground began. The glowing blades clashed and showers of sparking energy lit up the dark field like a swarm of fireflies. The walkers, tanks, and emplaced guns did not bother to fire on the Light soldiers, instead they continued to pound on the barrier. And the swarms of black fighters whizzing through the air suddenly veered down to strafe the Light soldiers with piercing laser bolts. The Light Soldiers and Black Centurions traded energy sword blows and psychic assaults, and both sides lost incredible numbers in startlingly short amounts of time. And then, barrages of plasma rocketed down out of the sky and collided with the energy shields around three of the six hovering black carriers.

Those inside the castle who could still stand looked up through the fading barrier as three burning orbs of fire descended through the atmosphere. The light carriers were roaring into battle with their guns blazing, firing wave after wave of plasma down at the black carriers. Two of the black carriers lost their shields and were sliced through by the plasma. Their failsafe devices activated just in time as they fell to the ground and were engulfed in explosions. The ground roared and heaved as the massive black ships collided with the field. Another carrier fired its engines to try and escape, but its steering drive malfunctioned and it soared through the sky and smashed headfirst into the side of Death Mountain. Its prow burrowed into the mountainside and then its entire front end collapsed inward into itself and was swallowed in explosions. Again, the reactors locked down in time to prevent a catastrophic meltdown. But the mountain began to rumble, and suddenly a cloud of smoke and steam began to rise out of the crater where old volcanic activity had taken place.

The air was nearly shuddering with the energy being released by the battle. As the Light Soldiers and Centurions continued to turn each other into piles of ash, the three light carriers exchanged plasma blasts with the three other remaining black carriers. They also began emptying their fighter bays and clouds of white fighters mixed with the black ones. As the fighters began to dogfight in midair, small orange explosions dotted the sky as they exploded left and right. As the barrier slowly became more and more transparent, there wasn't a place outside the castle that you could look and see dark, empty space. Lightest and Darkest's forces were evenly matched now, they ripped each other apart systematically and efficiently. A white carrier, hovering in the sky, suddenly lost its shields and was pierced through by plasma from an opposing black carrier. It wobbled in the air and then fell. Its death was not in vain however, it fired its engines just lightly enough to give it forward motion, and as it crashed to the ground it cut a great swath through Darkest's troops. It ploughed emplaced guns, walkers and tanks into rubble, and ground hundreds of black Centurions into a fine pulp. And just as quickly, another black carrier's shields succumbed to the fire from the swarms of light fighters. It suddenly jumped up into the air, a surge hitting its hover drives. It then sputtered and fell directly to the ground, and the Earth rattled and shook once more.

As the two forces whittled each other away, fewer and fewer of Darkest's troops bothered to attack the barrier. They instead turned to face the Light soldiers that were rapidly cutting through them. As the attacks on the barrier let up, Lightest and his barrier support troops finally began regaining some of their energy. The barrier slowly stopped fading, and then it began to gain strength again. As another black carrier slowly reached the end of it's shield's life, it was blown into sections, which fell to the field in flaming hunks. The prospect of victory began to approach, and the number of Centurions on the field was shrinking rapidly. But as the Hylians watched in glee as the Light forces slowly outnumbered the dark forces, Lightest frowned in worry. The battle in space was going quite opposite, Darkest's forces were even now continuing to pour into this dimension, and he only held a scant few ships in hiding, cloaked and watching more and more black ships swarm in. Soon, more black dropships would scream down through the atmosphere and they would turn this battle as well. The ships that had safely cloaked had already sent word for reinforcements, and they were on the way, but Lightest feared they would not arrive on time. It looked as if all might be decided here and now on this small planet.

The last black carrier was rapidly diced by plasma by the two light carriers that hovered over the field, and now almost all of the Centurions had been eliminated. The light soldiers were now mopping up the Centurions and chasing down the rogue tanks and APC's to blow them up. The walkers and emplaced cannons had already been wiped out by falling carriers. Death Mountain rumbled ominously as a great pillar of clouds poured out of its crater. Lines of orange were already seeping out from where the black carrier had hit its side. The field was now totally and completely blackened, not a trace of ground was left unburnt. Multiple smoldering hulks of ships littered the cratered waste for miles out. A great swath had been gouged across the land by the white carrier that had destroyed so many of Darkest's forces with its massive bulk. It still remained mostly intact at the end of the trough it had cut, smoking on its pockmarked site. The once majestic white metal was reduced to a melted, blackened, and warped shell. The air no longer smelled fresh or clean, it reeked of seared flesh and burnt fuel. But the castle and all the people of Hyrule remained safe inside. The battle finally fell quiet as the last three tanks were hunted down and destroyed, and none of Darkest's forces remained inside the planet's atmosphere.

Lightest knew of the coming storm, so he ordered his reinforcement soldiers to move inside the barrier to provide additional support. Again a messenger was sent, and a door was opened in the glowing bubble. 200 Light soldiers remained, and they filled the rest of the city streets inside the castle wall. The barrier was then resealed, glowing with even more power. As lightest and the first support troops finally restored their completely power, the barrier was now totally opaque and it hurt the eyes to directly look at. It would now withstand multiple plasma barrages, which Lightest knew it might have to. He ordered the remaining fightercraft patrolling the air around the barrier to dock back on the carriers, and then for the carriers to cloak once all remaining fighters were aboard. They then flew down next to the barrier in a protective stance. If Darkest decided to launch plasma barrages at the castle, they would take many of the hits instead. And as their hover drives quieted, the air was quiet.

A hot breeze blew, it was the only sound, and a faint one at that. None of the Hylians, Gerudos or light soldiers spoke or even moved. The light soldiers knew their master's motives, but the Hylians and Gerudos did not, and this sudden silence unnerved them. As the slow moaning of the wind was accompanied by a sudden rumble from Death Mountain, many swallowed hard and pushed back fear and doubt. Almost fifteen minutes passed before a now very familiar roaring became audible, more ships were burning down through the atmosphere.

The tired and stressed Earth was shaken again as more dropships came to a sudden rest on its surface. Outside the barrier now there were too many empty dropship hulls to count, and more of them were added to the collection. The Hylians and Gerudos were kept in the dark as to how many and what kinds of invaders had arrived now, but Lightest could sense them. Ten carriers, almost too many to fit over the field, were descending and coming to a stop outside the barrier, and almost eight hundred dropships were rocketing down and landing. He prayed silently in his mind that the reinforcements he had called for would arrive soon, they didn't have much time now.

As the constant shaking in the Earth finally subsided, Mewtwo found himself on the verge of panic. He had lost count of the impacts around 167, and that was already a force to be reckoned with in itself. He couldn't sense the invading ships as well as Lightest could, but his senses were able enough to tell him that the end would soon arrive. He simply stood on the castle wall, wordless and expressionless as he faced down the probability of his own demise. He knew that he now had the chance to go back into the castle, find the Ocarina of Time, and to rewind the entire sequence of events again. But a part of his mind warned him how incredibly unstable the Time stream was at this point, and he still held hope that the barrier could be maintained with so many light troops inside providing support. But he was also feeling a familiar sinking horror in his stomach, one that signaled the approach of Darkest himself. He did not move, did not show any sign of emotion, and the Hylians and Gerudos around him took strength from it. But Lightest could easily feel how stressed Mewtwo was, and he too was sharing in this stress as well. But a part of him was calm as well, because he knew that his death was Darkest's death, and if either of them died that day the war would be over and many universes would be free from the strife that they had caused.

More silence passed as Darkest's forces grouped and organized outside the wall. Thousands upon thousands of Centurions lined up and emplaced cannons locked their sights on the barrier. Walkers merged together into completion and fighters poured out of their bays and into formation. If the Hylian defenders could have seen what was grouping right on their doorstep, many of them would have soiled themselves and fled.

"Do it now." Lightest said psychically to the captains of the two carriers that were hovering cloaked outside the barrier.

"It was apparent now that Darkest would still not bombard the castle itself with plasma from his orbiting ships, so Lightest instructed the two ships he had left here to concentrate all of their plasma on the nearest ship and to fire all at once. The carriers suddenly appeared out of their cloaks with their plasma arrays fully charged, and fired large groups of boiling plasma at the nearest black ship. The black carrier, unprepared for such a surprise attack, did not even have its energy shields up. The plasma bolts sliced through it effortlessly and proceeded to cut into the next black carrier behind it. Three ships were suddenly disemboweled in this fashion, it was a genius tactic and it had cut Darkest's invading power considerably. But the remaining seven carriers charged their plasma arrays and returned fire. Horribly outgunned, the two white carriers simply moved away from the castle as fast as they could to draw the plasma bursts away from it. They emptied all their fighters at once in order to save them from destruction, and as the multiple plasma bursts found their targets the carriers were shredded mercilessly.

And yet again, Lightest employed brilliant tactics in order to even out the overwhelming odds. He had ordered the two carriers to remove the failsafe locks on their reactors, so that when they were destroyed, the thermonuclear explosions would take another good chunk of Darkest's forces out with them. The barrier was most definitely strong enough to survive the blasts. And the two carriers did indeed explode into two orbs of hellfire, the scarred ground heaved and shook and the blinding light from the two nuclear explosions filtered through the barrier itself. But the barrier held stoically against the massive blasts, and as the explosions slowly faded, Lightest saluted the crewmen of the carriers who had given their lives so nobly. Darkest's invading forces had been cut drastically, Lightest could only sense a quarter of the original amount. All of the Centurions who were not smart enough to have raised their psychic shields had been either vaporized or irradiated to death. Tanks, APC's, walkers and emplaced guns all around the detonation site had been blown to pieces by the blast, but those on the other side of the castle had been shielded by the barrier like a ledge blocks angled rain. Four more of the black carriers had been disabled or destroyed by the blast, so that only three remained. Every single fighter in the air that had not fled to safe distance had been destroyed. Only a slight few light fighters that had rocketed away at maximum speed had managed to escape. Lightest smiled to himself, impressed that he had eliminated so many of them with such simple tactics. But there were still around 50 Centurions and 30 Tanks out there, and the three remaining carriers still possessed deadly plasma arrays.

And indeed, these numbers were still a force to be reckoned with, for as soon as it became apparent that Lightest had no more tricks up his sleeve, they began their attack. And Mewtwo still had that sickening feeling of fear and futility in his stomach, he knew Darkest himself was still out there. The barrier did not show any signs of weakening as all of the remaining ground troops pounded on it as best as they could, and Lightest still held a pit of anxiety in his stomach about the remaining three black carriers. At any moment they could let loose waves of plasma that would be a lot more effective at wearing down the barrier than the few ground troops that were so determinedly trying. But they did not fire, and he wondered with all his mind as to why. And then, he sensed what Mewtwo had sensed all along, he felt Darkest's presence approaching and his blood ran cold.

**Chapter XXXI**

"Quickly! We must kill all of the Centurions outside the barrier!" Lightest shouted suddenly.

Lightest directed a large number of his Light soldiers to the corner of the castle that the Centurions were attacking. He had them immediately start throwing light orbs through the barrier and in the general direction of where the Centurions were pounding on the barrier with little effect. He got a general sense of how many were dying, but he had no way of telling exactly how accurate his soldiers were firing. And he knew that they could not move through the barrier to see either, it seemed to block their passage. And then Mewtwo walked up to him, a plan in mind.

"I was the one who conceived the barrier, and I can move freely through it." He said. "I can fly out there and destroy the Centurions, but I'll need you and your soldiers to send me enough collective energy to do the job."

"It's dangerous, you'll need to put up multiple barriers around yourself to protect against them, they might try to attack you before you can gather the energy you need. And Darkest is out there somewhere, if he were able to get a hold of you he would begin the separation immediately." Lightest said bleakly.

"I know what I'm doing." Mewtwo said.

Mewtwo then took energy from Lightest's collective pool of energy and formed a physical bubble around himself that could not be held by any force. Then, as a failsafe, he raised a psychic barrier around his mind that not even Lightest could penetrate. Then, he flew up through the air, through the barrier, and out over the group of Centurions. They all had bubbles around themselves as well, mainly to protect from the radiation in the air. They didn't even notice him as he began collecting energy and charging two great energy orbs. By the time one of them noticed him and looked up, he had already charged them to almost eight feet in diameter, and was almost ready to cast them down. Just as they all looked up to see him, he finished gathering the energy and threw them down as hard as he could. The Centurions didn't even bother to get out of the way, they knew with what little brainpower they had that they would die anyway. A great ball of blue flame swallowed them all up, popping their shields and exploding the few tanks that were nearby. The battlefield was once again empty except the three carriers hovering only half a mile out, only barely shielded after the two nuclear explosions. Mewtwo retreated back inside the opaque barrier and spoke with Lightest.

"It is done, the Centurions have been eliminated."

"Whatever difference it has made, I fear it will not be enough." Lightest said. "We may have removed a good 30 Centurions from his power pool here, but he still has almost 800 more of them inside those three carriers, and I only have 500 here inside the barrier. Unless we can crash at least one more of those black carriers we do not stand a chance."

Mewtwo stood and thought. Again a false silence settled upon the air, with only a slight breeze disturbing it. The Hylians and Gerudos remained unsettled and nervous. The breeze suddenly picked up a bit, moving unhindered through the barrier, and whistled mournfully through the streets. It howled like a banshee through open windows of buildings in the Hylian city, and cut across the dull armor of the Hylians and Gerudos. A familiar, haunting tone then filled the air once more, the bell tower of the Temple of Time tolled slowly and methodically, as if mourning the death of a king. It rang 13 times before falling silent. And then, the roar of another ship entering the atmosphere was heard.

Outside the barrier, a new sight eluded all eyes. As the object burned through the atmosphere and began to decelerate, it became visible to not be a ship. Lightest and Mewtwo could sense it, but they could not figure out what it was. The barrier blinded them to it and they could only guess what it was. Mewtwo could have flown outside to see, but he didn't dare for fear of Darkest being there to take control of him. The feeling of his presence was getting stronger every moment. Just outside the barrier, the object slowed to a snail's pace, it was the size of the Hyrule Castle itself, and it was a great black steel dome-like structure. It landed on the field was a great booming sound, it weighed as much as four or five carriers combined. As soon as it touched down, slots opened up around its bottom and great black steel prongs slid out. These seemingly tendrils then jointed and embedded themselves in the ground, much like the anchors of an emplaced gun. And then, the side of the dome facing the Castle slid open. What emerged was an elongated steel tube, it had lines glowing down its sides and what was similar to a gigantic satellite dish on the tip. The entire construction then aimed high at the top of the barrier and began to emit a low, almost seismic hum. And then, a wave of dread fell upon Lightest and Mewtwo.

A collection of energy was forming on this device, a collection of dark energy so vast and powerful that it could destroy an entire star. Lightest recognized the device now, it was one of Darkest's infamous planet killer cannons, and it had landed here right outside the castle and was preparing to fire. Darkest must have been getting extremely angry or desperate to resort to this, Lightest thought. His head swarmed, trying to think of a way to stop the planet killer from firing, but he could not think of an idea. And it didn't take long to charge either. Soon, the dark energy it was emitting was overpowering, practically enough to make Lightest want to vomit. The Hylians and Gerudos finally had all they could take. Most of them took off into the streets, their minds overwhelmed by this new feeling of Darkness. Others simply fell over into the fetal position, having completely lost their minds. It was incredible what Darkest could do to a man without even doing anything. The simple presence of all the energy was enough to drive the Hylians out of their heads. And then, the cannon groaned like an old man setting down a great load, and a beam of blackness eighteen feet in diameter flew forward toward the barrier.

There nothing any of them could do, the beam sliced right through the barrier and flew back out into space. The two holes in the barrier did not close up as the great beam finally faded, and Lightest, Mewtwo, and all the light soldiers looked up at the hole waiting for the inevitable. Mewtwo then found his sense and cloaked himself. He ran off into the city, masking his energy like before. But he knew he could not use the Ocarina again unless it was absolutely necessary, it would damage the time stream further. He hid his energy and sat inside a small smithy in the city, watching though its uppermost window.

The same bat winged form glided down through the hole in the barrier and came to a hover over the city. Lightest sighed heavily and suddenly instructed his light soldiers to let the barrier fall, it was no use maintaining it any farther. The barrier suddenly became translucent again, shimmered and fell. Darkest smiled and looked down at Lightest like a lion eying an injured antelope, about to strike.

"Well well well, you did somehow find my actions out." Darkest said, grinning maliciously. "The link may be broken, but your sensor technology must have been good enough to detect my actions anyway."

Lightes knew not to let Darkest know of the Original's presence in this timeline, he spoke wisely. "Your actions were obvious to even the most inexperienced tactician! This world is so rich in energy you wanted it for yourself."

"True, how true." Darkest said, acting nonchalant and brushing his claws against his front like he was shining them. "But even the most inexperienced fighter would not have put themselves in such a compromising defensive position. You should have predicted that I had so many extra reinforcements just a few dimensions away."

"Whatever the case may be, I will not let you consume and destroy the innocents in this land!" Lightest said, hovering up to face Darkest down.

"My friend, look at the position you're in. My forces outnumber you 2.5 to one! Unless you have more of your brilliant tactics up your sleeve then I suggest you stop trying to bluff me and just get on with our fight!" Darkest said.

"I thought your forces would like the thermonuclear surprise my ships had for them." Lightest said, smirking.

"You know how annoying it was to clean up all this radiation so I could come down here in person?" Darkest asked, a bit annoyed. "I could have just left the radiation in the air and came down inside a protective bubble, but then our battle would not have been half as fun."

Lightest was thankful that Darkest had cleaned the radiation out of the atmosphere for now, it had saved many innocent lives. "So, through your fickle battle lust you have saved many innocent lives from irradiation! Seems a bit out of character don't you think?" Lightest asked.

"Oh trust me, as soon as I finish you and clean all the energy and artifacts on this planet, I plan on doing something quite more spectacular than just nuking them." Darkest said.

"You will have to capture me to 'take care of me', and even then I would commit suicide in order to bring an end to both of us!" Lightest said, ready to end the war there and now.

"Hmmm, you see, that is where you're wrong. Unlike you, I have researched into our link, and ever since we've lost our mental link, we've lost our physical link. I can now kill you with impunity and have the universe to myself!" Darkest cackled. "Not only that, but with your death, I will be rid of all your wretched influence on my being! I will truly be pure!"

And with those frightening words, the battle of the two titans began yet again. Mewtwo watched as they exchanged massive energy beams, stabbed each other multiple times with energy swords, and healed themselves continually after each attack.. Neither of them made any progress, until they reached a point where it became obvious to them that neither could win on their own powers alone.

"Now, enough fooling around!" Darkest cried, "It's time to battle seriously!" And suddenly his body began to glow with an even more powerful dark aura. He called for energy from all of the crewmen on the three black carriers and he received it. Lightest then called for his light soldiers to send him their energy, and he too began to glow brighter with power. But as they both finished collecting energy, Darkest was clearly shining brighter with more power, and he knew it. He charged into battle blindingly fast, to the people of Hyrule it looked as if he had teleported. In a blinding flash of power the power auruas of the two clashed. Lightest was blasted backwards, but he used the momentum to curve around and come up below Darkest with two energy swords.

Darkest simply threw a wave of energy downwards and knocked Lightest away like a fly. He then charged a gigantic orb of black energy, holding it above his head and laughing maniacally. But instead of flinging it down at his foe, Darkest tossed a smaller ball of energy up into it, and it suddenly shattered into hundreds of small black energy orbs. This swarm of energy spheres scattered outward into the air, seemingly in random directions, and then all of the orbs converged on Lightest at once. Lightest held his shield as long as he could, but it slowly was chipped away. It shattered and thirteen of the small energy balls cratered his body horrendously. He began to fall toward the castle, but the light soldiers held him up telepathically and healed him. He was regenerated by them and charged back into the futile battle once more.

Lightest formed a great glowing staff with energy, and slammed Darkest across the jaw. Darkest's head jerked back from the impact, but he did not fall backwards. Lightest then took advantage of the fact that Darkest had not retaliated and threw a crippling barrage of attacks. Lightest bashed Darkest over the head, across the stomach, and jabbed him in the tail. But Darkest just hovered there and took the punishment, enjoying the futility of Lightest's attempts. Lightest then used this overconfidence to his advantage and formed a blade on the tip of the staff and impaled Darkest all the way through with it. The blade jutted out of his back, covered in warm black blood. Darkest suddenly coughed up a wad of blood filled substance and gasped in surprise. He formed a small black energy dagger and stabbed it into Lightest's arm. Lightest let go of the staff, and it faded away and disappeared. Darkest then regenerated himself and stabbed another dagger into Lightest's leg. And then, he pulled both of them out, raised his arms, and blasted a gaping hole in Lightest's torso with a beam of black energy.

Once again Lightest tumbled through the air down towards the castle only to be caught by his light soldiers and healed by them. He flew back up with renewed energy and attacked once more. This time Lightest fired a trio of gigantic beams of light energy, but Darkest simply teleported out of the way. He materialized directly behind Lightest and grabbed him by the tail. He channeled a wave of electricity into Lightest's body and cackled with glee as Lightest went rigid and twitched. He then formed a long black energy scimitar and stabbed Lightest right through the tail with it. And to top it all off, he drew back his legs and kicked Lightest hard on the back of his head. And yet again, only a few seconds after it had happened before, Lightest fell limp through the air towards the castle. And the light soldiers, now running low on energy, healed him once more.

"It was fun to kick you around for awhile, but I crave conquest. This ends now!" Darkest shouted.

Channeling all the energy he could from his crewmen on the black carriers, Darkest flung a multitude of psychic attacks down at the light soldiers. The soldiers tried desperately hard to maintain the barriers around their minds, but Darkest overwhelmed them and cooked their brain tissue like fresh strips of bacon. Every single one of them fell dead on the streets of the castle city and on the outer walls of the castle. Those Hylians and Gerudos who still remained outside the inner walls of the castle and were unfortunate enough to be in the way were also destroyed in the blink of an eye. Mewtwo in his hiding place, was lucky enough to avoid the attack.

Lightest now hovered alone, without any troops to send him energy or heal him. His glowing aura faded away into nothing. And he was almost completely unprotected. The reinforcements had still not arrived, and Lightest prepared to meet death.

"Don't you know the consequences of what you're about to do?" Lightest asked desparately.

"Yes! I will be rid of your influence and interference forever, and I will be free to plunder the infinite universes for eternity!" Darkest yelled gleefully.

Summoning up enough power for one final blow, Darkest formed spikes of black energy around his fists and charged forward. Nimbly and deliberately, he jabbed one of the spikes directly into Lightest's heart, and then spun and around with the other wrist blade and cleanly cut Lightest's head off with one smooth stroke. A wave of blue energy suddenly flashed through the air, and Lightest's body fell away, blood falling like rain onto the streets below. And suddenly, Darkest doubled over in pain, still hovering in the air. He held his clawed hands to his stomach and suddenly released a howl of agony. Mewtwo crossed his fingers, hoping that Darkest had been wrong and that Lightest's death would bring his. As he watched his hopes climbed high as Darkest clutched himself and roared in primordial agony. But as Darkest remained there in the air, still alive for longer and longer amounts of time, Mewtwo's blood started to chill and he felt a wave of terror wash over him.

And abruptly, Darkest's form suddenly jerked rigid, his arms sticking out like he had been crucified. With one final scream, and small cloud of blue light was expelled from his body as the rest of Lightest's essence was purged from his system. And then, his body began to change. Mewtwo stared on in sheer dread as Darkest's body morphed. Slowly, his body began to grow, his body thickened with more muscle and bone mass. He continued to howl in agony as every part of him was shifted. His wings grew as well, the flesh thickened and the spikes on each of the wing joints grew longer and sharper. And then, with a sickening crack, spikes jutted out of his back along his spinal cord. Spikes sprouted out of his arms and legs, along his tail, and the horns on his head grew longer and more twisted. Two of his fangs grew out into a size that was similar to those on a saber toothed tiger, and his claws grew longer and sharper as well. As his body mass increased, his back hunched over forward like the hunchback of Notre Dame. And as the transformation completed, the pupils disappeared out of his heartless eyes, which then turned from blood red to jet black. And he then let out a deafening bellow that shook all those within miles right down to the bone.

Before Mewtwo could do anything, this monstrous new form of Darkest then tossed a wave of energy down into the castle town. The wave cut right through the city like a knife, and is it hit the ground it suddenly exploded into a black ball of flame. The ground shook massively, and the houses that had been cut by the wave suddenly collapsed upon themselves. The bodies of light soldiers, Hylians and Gerudos were buried under heaps of rubble. And then Darkest flung another wave of energy. The wave sliced through more buildings, but this time when it hit the ground it exploded into many different smaller waves, each of which bulldozed a tidal wave of destruction through the city. Darkest had gone completely out of his mind, his intelligence had been swallowed up by pure, elemental evil. He turned and looked at the three black carriers hovering behind them, and suddenly threw a wave of energy back at them as well. Their shields could not hold something nearly as powerful, all three ships were cut in half. Thankfully, their failsafes had been active and they did not go thermonuclear. But they were engulfed in flames and fell to the ground in multiple explosions.

Mewtwo could not believe his eyes. Darkest had been turned into a destruction lusting brute with no mind at all. Ad his power was now great enough to destroy the combined shields of three carriers. He knerw now that even if he didn't use the Ocarina of Time to go back, the universe would still be destroyed, so it would be just as well if he did end up destroying the time stream. He ran down out of the smithy and through the streets that were still untouched by Darkest's blind wrath. He was careful to remain cloaked and hidden, who knows what that mindless destruction machine would do to him if it saw him. He quickly ran up into the Castle, thankful that Darkest had not yet turned his attention on it. He ran up stone steps and suddenly fell flat on his face as the stone shook under his feet. Darkest had smashed the city with another wave of destruction, and there was no telling when he would strike at the castle. Mewtwo got back up and ran as fast as he could to the magic item store room. He slammed the door open, threw items aside violently, and yanked the Ocarina out from under a stack of Spell books. He played the song of time travel again as best as he could. Just as he disappeared back through time, Darkest vaporized the entire castle with one great energy blast. The universe's hope made it through in the blink of an eye.

A/N: Wow, 14 pages this time, quite longer than a standard 10. I do hope that you found this chunk exciting, because it was really fun and really hard to write at the same time. Anyway, this is a major turning point in the story, the next chunk or two will follow a different path that will be fulfilling some hopes that many of you had earlier at the beginning of Part III. I'm not going to say any more than that. Remember, reviews of chunks this difficult to write are most appreciated!


	24. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 13

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk THIRTEEN. Ehehe, sorry this took so long. I had run fresh out of ideas for this for a time and it took some serious thinking, as well as a couple of good inspiring movies and music to pry the writer's block out of my complicated mesh of a mind. But here is the next chunk, so enjoy!

**Chapter XXXII**

As Mewtwo once more emerged into consciousness, he found himself in a familiar environment. He felt himself lying relaxed on a soft, smooth mattress under a warm blanket and resting on a cushy pillow. As he opened his eyes, he saw the stone ceiling of a room inside the Castle and stood up. He took in his surroundings and saw the recognizable lavish room that Zelda had afforded to him the day after her speech. He had once again been taken back in time just over a week. He stood up and walked out of the room as his mind slowly tried to recall and comprehend all the previous events that had happened. He walked out of the room and into the hall, the rising morning sun was absent and no rays shone in through the narrow windows along the corridor. And as Mewtwo's mind slowly awoke, he knew one thing was for sure; he needed to seek Zelda's council. He didn't care if he was destabilizing the time stream further by telling Zelda of all the events that had never happened thanks to his time travels, he had already done enough damage by telling her his complete life story anyway. And he was becoming cavalier in his attitude towards the continuum now since it seemed to refuse to collapse no matter how much he twisted it.

As soon as he located Zelda in the Castle, Mewtwo made her drop what she was doing to come to the Castle Courtyard and talk to him. He proceeded to tell her of all he had gone through, the multiple invasions, his trip through space, and Lightest's fall. He began to become more anxious as he recanted the memories. He was trying to think of a new solution as he retold them, but once again he was out of ideas. He did not have a plan C, and as he finished telling Zelda his tales it became blatantly obvious to him and he felt horribly sickened by the futility of it all. And then, Zelda spoke to him with a calmness and an answer that finally caused a true shining hope to come through.

"You have exhausted many plans now, and I see that the Triforce of Courage has tested your mind and willpower to their very limits. And now, I do believe the tests are complete. It gave you the energy you needed several times in dire situations, and I am sure that this is a sign of acceptance by the Triforce. I think you have passed your test. The time has come now, you must reunite the three Triforce Pieces." Zelda said.

"What will happen? Will I gain ultimate power, will I be granted immortality, what will this task accomplish?" Mewtwo asked.

"No-one exactly knows, since the Triforce has never been reunited since Ganondorf's vile hand caused it to split. But all our legends have said that the one who gains the whole Triforce will be granted one wish. And based on the goodness of their heart and spirit, a new age of good or evil will come unto the land by the gods' judgment." Zelda said.

Mewtwo stood and thought a moment. He could use this wish in several ways, he could undo all the negative things in his past, he could heal all the woes that have been done to Hyrule, or he could use it to purify himself of evil and to destroy the dark essence within him that would become Darkest in the future. He nodded his head and spoke.

"Then this shall be my task. I will reform the Triforce and use the wish to destroy the darkness within me!" Mewtwo said.

"So it is, and it is a good plan indeed. The first step should be that I give you the Triforce of Courage which is in my hand now. Come, follow me to the Temple of Time and we will perform the passage ceremony." Zelda said, and then turned and began walking off. Mewtwo followed eagerly.

Walking through the quiet, untouched streets of Hyrule Castle Town while civilians still swarmed inside felt almost strange after the imprinting memories that the invasion experiences had left. He followed the elegant princess through the streets and the commoners parted and bowed as she passed. They looked on Mewtwo like those looked suspiciously upon a fox who has yet to raid the chicken coop. Since his heroic deeds had not taken place anymore, they thought little of him. As they entered the Temple, Zelda stopped just before the pedestal that contained the three Spiritual Stones.

"Now kneel, take my right hand in your right hand and close your eyes, I will give you the Triforce of Wisdom." Zelda said and knelt down in the stone.

Mewtwo held Zelda's hand and closed his eyes as told, and Zelda's hand felt hot and sweaty, and it shook a small amount. She felt nervous, maybe a bit scared, and Mewtwo was unsure what would happen. Zelda slowly whispered an incantation in the Ancient Dialect and held her left hand to her forehead. And a few moments later, a wave of electric pain washed over both of them. Mewtwo felt the Triforce of Courage in his hand suddenly sear with pain, and Zelda's arm was filled with the same sensation as well. They both were jolted rigid as electricity swept from the Triforce pieces and into their bodies. Visible sparks radiated around their joined hands as the two Triforce Pieces touched essences and exchanged energies. And then, the Triforce of Courage left Zelda's hand, traveled up her body and appeared on her forehead. The energies of the two artifacts controlled both of their carriers, and Zelda and Mewtwo swung their heads back. And, to complete the process, their heads then rocked forward and bashed together in an extremely painful head but. The Triforce of Courage was then embedded into Mewtwo's skull, and as both he and Zelda passed into unconsciousness it traveled through his body and appeared on his right hand, right next to its brother.

**Chapter XXXIII**

Mewtwo and Zelda were found in the Temple unconscious by three priests who were arriving to pray. They were immediately taken to the Castle's hospital and treated for head injuries. The priests were shocked to see what had happened, it had been described in the legends of the Triforce, Zelda had passed her piece on to Mewtwo, and the only way for the process to be completed was for a violent head bash. They nursed the two back to health with red potions, Zelda woke up feeling healthy and new, but for some reason the red potion could not rouse Mewtwo from his comatose state. As the energies from the two Triforce pieces interacted and merged, they had suddenly taken a great toll on his energy, draining his life force like a vampire. He would survive, but it would take days of bed rest.

And days did indeed pass, dark days with the sky blotted out by the Empire's clouds. Mewtwo recovered slowly but surely, color returned to his skin and he breathed more regularly with each passing day. But no matter how many red potions insisted on giving him, he still would not wake up. Zelda remembered in her talk with Mewtwo about his tales of the Imperial invasion, and how it would be a week and two days after her announcement to Hyrule. After four days passed and Mewtwo remained in his coma, she began to fear that he would not regain himself in time to travel to the Sacred Realm and reclaim the Triforce of Power from Ganondorf. The people became restless, riots broke out, and as one full week had passed and Mewtwo began stirring, Zelda finally reached her wit's end.

It might have been due to the lack of the calmness and cool thinking that the Triforce of Wisdom had granted her, but Zelda became rash in her decisions, as well as cross, irritable and mean spirited. As she desperately plotted her final plan, one man was there to try and tell her of her folly.

"You will never make it." Rauru said, walking into Zelda's bedroom as she clumsily rifled through her things.

Zelda practically growled in response. "Do you see any other choice old man? Our only hope is tossing and turning in a comatose dreamland and we only have three more days to live! I must go into the Sacred Realm myself, so that I might take the Triforce of Power and merge it with the other two pieces that Mewtwo has!" Zelda slammed a clothes trunk closed as if to put her foot down.

"Listen to reason! Do you remember the time when Ganondorf trapped you and used you as bait for Link? You could not even resist his power even with your piece of the Triforce. No doubt his power has increased during his imprisonment, and without your piece of the Triforce your power is only a quarter of what it was.." Rauru said coolly.

Zelda pulled on a pair of leather gauntlets and scowled at Rauru. "So you would have me sit back and watch as my kingdom is obliterated and my people massacred? I don't care if I fail or not at this task, at least I will not have sat idle and let fate play out its cruel tricks without putting up a fight!"

"You're wasting your life when it could be used to defend the castle and help maintain the barrier." Rauru said, still not flustered by Zelda's blatant insolence.

"Did I not tell you what Mewtwo told me? Even with the help of an entire armada of advanced technological ships could we survive their onslaught, it is pointless to try and turtle under the barrier without doing anything else!" Zelda pulled a pair of tough boots on as she spoke.

"I believe in what he said, but I also believe that the gods have something in store for us if we piously defend our cause down to every last man and woman." Rauru said, perfectly serene.

"You're a fool." Zelda hissed. Rauru twitched his eyebrow and controlled his urge to slap the girl. "What have the gods done for us? What have they done for all the worlds that Darkest has absorbed an annihilated? What have they done Mewtwo, and what have they done for me?" Zelda nearly screamed.

This time Rauru didn't hold back, he reached out and slapped Zelda hard across the face. "Foolish girl! If you insult the gods we're sure to die horrible deaths! I'm not sure if it is fear or the lack of the Triforce of Wisdom in you, but your leader's insight has left you. It is a suicidal path that you seek!"

"I do not care! There is no way I will stand by and watch my people die at leisure. I am the queen and I will have you and the other sages open the door to the Sacred Realm for me!"

"I will not do it." Rauru said stoutly, stomping his girthy foot on the plush rug of the royal floor.

"I will have you hanged for treason!" Zelda shrieked at him.

"You would hang one of the six sages? The people would override your royal authority and disobey before hanging one who was responsible for the creation of Hyrule!" Raur said, anger becoming apparent in his tone.

"Then I would kill you myself!" Zelda cried, drawing a dagger and leaping at Rauru.

"ENOUGH!" Rauru blasted at the top of his lungs. He tossed Zelda aside with one burly arm and snapped the dagger in two with his other hand. "You have become unfit to rule and I am hereby removing you from the throne due to mental instability!"

Zelda cowered on the floor, and suddenly burst to tears. She gripped the carpet in her hands and ripped it up and apart in her hysterics. Rauru looked down at her and sighed heavily, his anger gone, replaced by empathy. He knew that the strain of leading a people into a catastrophe this big was hard, but without her Triforce of Wisdom Zelda could not bear it. She completely broke down there on the floor, suddenly missing her late father and wondering why it would all end this way. Rauru picked her up with ease in his great arms and placed her on the broad Royal bed. She gripped the sheets like the ledge of a cliff and sobbed into the soft fabric, her mind slowly letting go all of the pressure the world had laid on her. Rauru then took off of her person the keys to all the doors in the castle, left the bedroom and locked it behind him. He knew Zelda was too unstable to even try to leave, but he wanted to make sure she wouldn't do anything radical. He then returned to the chamber of Sages and resumed stewing in his own pot of doubt and fear. Even the wisest sage could falter in times as horrible as these.

**Chapter XXXIV**

Mewtwo slowly crept back to consciousness in a soft, comfortable bed, and his groggy mind wondered idly if he had been taken back in time again. But as he opened his eyes and saw the Castle's infirmary around him, he knew it to be untrue. The room was dark and deserted, not a sound met the air except his breathing. He sat up and looked around in the inky darkness, and then something caught his attention. Two glowing symbols were shimmering on the back of his right hand. One was green and the other blue, and they were both triangles of a gold like material. He remembered the ceremony he had gone through with Zelda and his mind suddenly came to full awareness. He felt a need to speak with her and be with her, and he wondered how long he had been asleep. He walked out of the infirmary and into the castle, searching for the princess. Oddly, the Castle seemed to be void of all inhabitants, not a soul was to be seen or heard.

As Mewtwo ran down the staircases of the Castle a chilling sound met his ears and he stopped cold. The bell tower of the Temple of Time began to toll. It sang a hollow cry, distinctly feeling as if it were funeral bells. Mewtwo's blood ran cold as he remembered that the bells had rung during the invasion and he rushed to a window and looked out over the field. Strangely enough, it was intact, there were no craters from plasma bombardments or explosively landing dropships. He scanned the entire area until he finally found the reason for the bells, a funeral procession was traveling through the main castle gates and through the city. He sighed with relief that the invasion had not started and ran back down the stairs to find out what was going on and who had died.

As he came up behind the trailing end of the funeral procession, his feet stepped on rose petals that had been strewn across the stone behind the silent marchers. He passed by the end and found the coffin moving along, with four royal guards carrying banners with the symbol of the royal family. The coffin was draped with the Hylian flag and was covered with flowers. Mewtwo approached one of the color carriers and asked him who had died.

The guard only sighed in sadness, holding back tears. "Our noble Princess, this time last night, in despair and fear, did thrust a dagger unto her bosom and fell dead upon her own bed. She belongs to the gods now."

It was as if a train had hit Mewtwo. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and the procession began to pass him by. He stood there, completely blown away by horror and grief. He was beyond words, beyond thought, his mind locked up like a computer with a crippling virus. As the procession disappeared inside the temple and the bell's tolling fell quiet, he still could no nothing but stand and stare. The passage of time and all other aspects of reality no longer found their ways into his mind, he did not feel or see an hour pass as a cold, mournful wind cut through the streets of the Castle town. And as guards began to leave the Temple as the funeral ended, something in his mind finally snapped. His cognitive mind receded into the ether as the emotion surged his system and a blood red filled his eyes, blinding all other sight. The people of Hyrule turned and looked as he suddenly screamed in rage and sorrow. And then, he flew up into the air, out away from the Castle at astonishing speed. The people pointed and stared as he streaked away through the sky, his energy trail blood red instead of blue.

The two pieces of the Triforce radiated bright light as Mewtwo's emotions propelled him hundreds of miles per hour through the sky. He flew and flew, not caring where he went or how long he flew. Tears of rage and pain fell down through the air behind him as he passed above mountains, forests and oceans, aimlessly venting his feelings. As he flew, memories of Kalana's death mingled with his imaginations of Zelda stabbing herself, and his emotions burned and intensified. He saw the two of his closest friends, dying in horrible ways, and as he did he pictured the one responsible. Darkest's grinning face was superimposed over the death images of Kalana and Zelda, and the deepest, blackest rage Mewtwo had ever felt formed inside him. He suddenly craved to have Darkest's head impaled on a blade, to feel his warm blood soaked organs in his hands, and to then burn every last trace of him in the lavas of Death mountain. He wanted to watch the painful deaths of every last Centurion, and the mangling and destruction of every ship in their fleet, and to have all of their heads as trophies of vengeance in the halls of Hyrule Castle. His rage and energy flew out of control as he flew, and bolts of red and black lightning jumped down from him and caught landscapes on fire. And then, a suddenly familiar feeling jolted Mewtwo's entire consciousness like being pulled apart on the rack. He felt himself suddenly beginning to separate, the same feeling he had gotten when Darkest had tried to initiate the separation on top of his dark tower. And immediately, he remembered the dire consequences of letting his emotions go too far and his rage suddenly boiled down to a manageable level. The feeling left him and his mind and body returned to their natural synchronization.

Mewtwo floated down out of the air and sat on a small stream's bank. He panted with a sudden feeling of fatigue and slight fear. His rage had nearly taken control and separated him right then and there. It was a sobering message to him, this was why Darkest and Lightest still existed in the Time Stream, because he could never truly control his emotions to a full extent.

**Chapter XXXV**

It was a long trip for Mewtwo to return to Hyrule Castle, in his blind emotional state he had flown hundreds of miles away and its was difficult to find his way back. He didn't even notice it when the two Triforce pieces did not pain him during his flight back, he was too absorbed in his own melancholy and thought. It was dark by the time he arrived back, and the Castle was under a drape of despair and mourning. As he landed back in the center of the Castle town, the streets were empty and lonely, and the sounds of quiet sobbing came from every house. He walked sullenly into the Temple of Time and found Rauru standing there alone, staring down at the Master Sword in its stone pedestal.

"I will tell you what happened." Rauru said, turning and facing Mewtwo. "But before I do I want you to remember that it was her decisions that brought about her end, not yours. You should not feel responsible for her death."

"I don't, what I feel is the need to complete the task she laid out for me before leaving this plane." Mewtwo replied solemnly.

"Very well then. When Zelda gave you the Triforce of Wisdom, you both fell into deep comas. She was able to be revived with a red potion, but for some reason you were beleaguered in bed for a much longer time despite the fact that we gave you many red potions. You slept for a week, and with every passing day, a little bit of Zelda's sanity slipped away. It got to the point where she wanted to venture into the Sacred Realm by herself and take the Triforce of power from Ganondorf himself, but I wouldn't allow it. I foolishly locker her in her room, and in there she used the broken tip of her dagger to kill herself." Rauru said, straining to keep himself from weeping. He had felt he was responsible for Zelda's death.

"Then I must do what she could not, you must open the door to the Sacred Realm so I can reclaim the Triforce of Power!" Mewtwo said, feeling new purpose welling within him.

"Your determination is admirable, but if you walk into this battle unprepared Ganondorf will have your head on a spear. He has been gaining power during his imprisonment, the other Sages and I can feel it. Should you face him in all out combat, the battle would be fierce, but I am afraid he would most likely win. You need to prepare, and to plan out a course of action." Rauru said.

"What is there to plan? I will turn his brain matter into a black hunk of carbon and take the Triforce for myself!" Mewtwo said.

"Do not think so rashly! It is this impetuousness that drove Zelda to end herself!  
If you thought for a moment, you would remember that the whole Triforce tests the one who touches it! If your mind is soiled by rage, greed, despair or any other imbalanced at the time you reform the Triforce, it will split again and you will lose 2 of the pieces. You must come into the battle with a balanced mind, and not let anything cause you undue emotions."

Mewtwo sighed. He stood there and thought a moment. "So we have three days left until the Invasion? That certainly should be enough time to defeat Ganondorf and reform the Triforce."

"You must use this time to prepare yourself, you cannot allow anything negative to enter your mind at the time of the Triforce's reformation, and to clean your mind takes much mental training. I would normally give one a three week training time, but because we are so short on time, I must teach you with haste." Rauru finished.

And teach him with haste Rauru did. It was not long after they had finished this conversation in the Temple of Time when Rauru took Mewtwo into the Chamber of Sages and began teaching him the art of clearing his mind. He explained that besides allowing Mewtwo to reform the Triforce without it splitting, it would also drastically improve his perception, fighting skills, and ability to make decisions. But as the lessons began, Mewtwo found that it was not an easy goal to achieve.

"Empty your mind of all thoughts." Rauru said calmly. "Sit and be, and yet do not be. Concentrate on nothingness and everything, let yourself merge with the world around you, and you will find you are much more in tune with it than before."

Mewtwo sat on the floor of the Chamber, trying his best not to think. But small things, like an itch on his arm and a sudden sneeze broke his concentration. A pang of hunger and a cramp in his leg from sitting too long ruined his concentration completely.

"Do not let your body influence your mind!" Rauru snapped when Mewtwo suddenly coughed and broke his concentration again. "You must let all influences, whether they be negative emotions, an itch, or stabbing pain, pass through you unnoticed as easily as wind passes through a screen door. Let your mind drift away from your body and become one with nothingness."

Mewtwo sighed and tried again. He concentrated as hard as he could on ignoring all outside influences, and his muscles slowly relaxed and his body started to feel separate from him. And then a finger tapped him on the shoulder and he reflexively turned, opened his eyes and looked. Rauru scowled and withdrew his hand.

"Wrong!" He shouted, scowling at Mewtwo. "In order to fully attain the clear mind, you must not let your reflexes and instinctual reactions interrupt you! Ganondorf will do a number of things to corrupt your mind's clear state, you must learn to ignore them."

"What if he should attack me physically, or hurl an orb of darkness at me?" Mewtwo asked.

"Silence! Do not speak! Once you have reached the ideal state it will become clear to you. Now, try again." Rauru said harshly.

Mewtwo felt as though he had been whacked over the head with the proverbial ruler. He painfully brushed aside his frustration and relaxed again. As the minutes passed he felt himself slowly starting to drift away from the Chamber of Sages, and a sudden smack on the back of his head returned him to reality.

"Do not fall asleep!" Rauru roared. "You are completely missing the point of this exercise! The goal is for you to be more in tune with the world, not oblivious to it! Must I completely redefine the state to you again?"

"It would be much easier to understand if you would quit talking in riddles!" Mewtwo snarled, his anger flustered.

"Do not speak!" Rauru blared. "The state of having a cleared mind is a riddle itself when compared to regular consciousness! By eliminating all extraneous emotions and physical sensations you can become more aware of the environment around you and you can think more clearly and make decisions easier. There, is that a clear enough explanation for you?"

Mewtwo did not speak, but his mind was appeased somewhat and he appreciated that Rauru had spelled it out for him.

"Good, you did not speak, you're starting to get the idea. Now, this time, relax and close your eyes, but try to concentrate on the environment around you. Listen to every sound intently, feel every air current on your skin, and smell every scent no matter how small or insignificant. Do not allow yourself to become so relaxed that you begin to doze off, allow your concentration on the environment around you to keep you aware."

Mewtwo followed Rauru's advice, and focused as hard as he could on his hearing. The slow trickling of the water that flowed along the walls of the Chamber of Sages was smooth and easing, and it followed an easily recognizable pattern. Rauru's breathing was slow and relaxed, and he could almost feel Rauru's breath moving through the air. He almost felt bored by the complete solitude, but he tried as best as he could to put that extraneous emotion away from himself. And when Rauru suddenly shifted his feet, the normally almost inaudible sound was as loud as a firecracker to Mewtwo's attuned hearing. The movement of Rauru shuffling his feet also disturbed the air a slight bit, and Mewtwo could feel it and could smell the must off of Rauru's robes. All of these senses put together gave him an extremely accurate reading on where Rauru was standing, it was as if he could see him without actually seeing him. And then Rauru decided to test Mewtwo perception and threw a lightning fast kick at Mewtwo's sitting form. Mewtwo easily felt and heard it coming, and jumped to the side swiftly as Rauru's large foot appeared where he had been sitting.

"I'm sorry, I should not have let an outside influence affect me." Mewtwo said, suddenly falling back out of his cleared state.

"Actually, that was supposed to happen. You asked what you should do should Ganondorf attack you when you are in a clear state, and you have just answered your own question. Reactions to such things as itches or distractions are detrimental to your concentration, but necessary reactions such as dodging direct attacks are necessary. You have learned the most important lesson of the clear minded state, to eliminate only the unnecessary reflexes. Now, sit back down and clear your mind again, I have another lesson for you to learn." Rauru said.

Mewtwo felt somewhat proud, it was an injection of confidence that he needed. He resisted his urge to smile and sat again. Replicating how he had been earlier. He concentrated on feeling the air, hearing every sound, and smelling every scent. He could faintly smell the aroma of onions and deduced that Rauru must have eaten a dish with onions in it earlier. As he became completely attuned with the physical environment, a sudden thought intruded on his mind.

"_You're doing pretty well, aren't you? You should be proud._" A thought whispered in his mind, and Mewtwo suddenly smiled to himself and was about to reaffirm it proudly when Rauru's hand smacked him squarely across the back of his head. It was more of a shock than an annoyance, he had not heard or felt it coming at all.

"You've made another glaring error, you've let a single thought and emotion distract you! I telepathically spoke to you and it was all I needed to do to corrupt your cleared mind and get past your senses!" Rauru said. "Now, try again!"

Mewtwo again felt like he had been slapped with a ruler, but managed to push aside his emotions and return to his calmed state. He found his concentration on the environment and locked onto it with an iron will. He heard Rauru shift again and waited for his next test. No physical attacks came, but another intruding thought came into his mind once more.

"_You are a very talented individual, and you deserve better than this. You should be able to defeat Ganondorf easily, so why tolerate this nonsense?_"

Mewtwo let the intrusions slide off of him effortless, and when Rauru sent a punch only an instant after the thought had entered his mind, he heard it coming and dodged it effortlessly.

"Excellent, now are you ready for-" Rauru said, and suddenly kicked at Mewtwo's now standing form for an even more unexpected surprise attack.

Mewtwo was almost caught off guard, but he had managed to stay moderately attuned to the air currents and dodged barely in time. Rauru smiled in satisfaction. Staying silent for the Moment, Rauru decided to leave Mewtwo in the dark for his next test. He stood quietly for five minutes before telepathically intruding on Mewtwo's mind once more.

"_You're weak. It's your fault that Kalana died; you watched her die and did nothing. Your cowardice was her demise._"

"That's not true!" Mewtwo screamed, turning and charging at Rauru, having completely losing control.

Rauru grabbed Mewtwo's arm and squeezed it with an iron grip, and then with his other hand slapped Mewtwo across the face as hard as he could.

"While that message may have been untrue, it is true that your emotional control is still weak! If one thought like that can cause you to fly off of the handle so wildly then Ganondorf will have fun batting your corpse around the Sacred Realm after he rips you to shreds! You need to learn to control your emotions or else you are doomed to fail!" Rauru bellowed.

Now Mewtwo's anger was completely provoked, he lashed back verbally at Rauru like a lion. "You would have the same problems as I do if you had lived through emotional trials as mind warping as I have! You do not know half of what I feel and it is insulting that you think that I could toss them aside so easily!"

"You're a complete and total fool!" Rauru yelled. "The point of this exercise is for you to let your emotional strain go, and now you are clinging to them like a security blanket! You have learned nothing from this lesson! You are letting your emotions control you and then self justifying them as a part of you! Unless you can toughen up or let them pass, then you and the rest of our world are doomed to the hands of your dark side!" Rauru shouted.

"I have had enough of people belittling what I feel!" Mewtwo screamed at the top of his voice. "I don't care what happens anymore, I just want to be away from you and all the rest of this!"

And suddenly Mewtwo disappeared out of the Chamber of Sages, teleported to only he knows where.

A/N: Well, it was certainly not as exciting as the last chunk, but there was a lot of intense emotion! What will happen to our Hero now, three days will pass before he will know it and things will suddenly progress to an all out climax to finish the book within the next two or three chunks. Expect an all out, mind blowing conclusion before August as I wrap up all the last few loose and in the coming two-three chunks. Remember, reviews are always appreciated far more than you can imagine!


	25. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 14

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk FOURTEEN. Arrggh! I hate writer's block! I DESPISE writer's block! Writing this chunk was an exercise in horrendously hard block grinding, where I would sit and write for a few hours and only accomplish a few paragraphs. It felt like my faucet of inspiration had been rusted up and clogged, and writing this was like getting a hammer and chisel and pounding on it until I had chipped the block away. Sorry it took so long to write this, because it was quite a lot of work.

**Chapter XXXVI**

Hidden away in the confines of Hyrule castle, in a small nondescript room on a rickety wooden bed, an emotionally ravaged Mewtwo had laid down his head to rest, and had fallen asleep. Elsewhere, the Sage of Light was brooding over his argument with Mewtwo and pacing like a lion. And farther away, in the planet's atmosphere, thousands of dark ships lurked, preparing to launch the massive invasion. It was in this setting that hope was seeming to flicker on the verge of disappearing when again a simple message was all that was needed to turn the tide.

As Mewtwo slept, a simple dream formed, his sight was suddenly turned toward a small country town. It was a sleepy little town, only a few hundred residents and it was surrounded by farmlands as far as the eye could see. Mewtwo's view shifted down to a small ranch house in the center of a miniature forest. It was small than all the other houses, and it contained a family that was disproportionately large compared to its capacity. A father and mother were raising 6 children, 4 girls and 2 boys, as well as giving the mother-in law a home. Mewtwo didn't know how he knew this, the dream put the information into his mind and he watched in fascination as the young children of ages 4-12 listened to the old grandmother's tales. Particular attention was paid to the oldest son, Marcus, who was 13 and seemed to live in his own world. As Mewtwo watched, time suddenly accelerated to the next day and the family woke up early to go out onto the fields and work. All but the youngest daughter worked the fields in excruciating heat and came home sore and covered with sweat. They rested and went to bed, and time accelerated again.

Weeks, then months, then years seemed to pass as Mewtwo watched. Marcus and his siblings grew, and the parents began to gray and become tired. After 5 years had passed, the acceleration slowed down in order to portray an event. The parents went out alone to go to a party, and were abducted by an invisible form in the darkness right before Mewtwo's eyes. A few days accelerated past and a vicious snow fell over the town as winter came, and the police searched the town and its surroundings for miles without success. Suddenly grandmother was the guardian of the family, and Marcus became the man of the house. His sisters and brothers, who were nearing their middle teens, were filled with grief and sorrow. Time accelerated a few months past and the bodies of Marcus' parents were found, deformed until almost unrecognizable, they had been hidden under a deep drift of snow. The police were mystified and nobody did any further investigation. Marcus trudged on with his life as the will of his father had left him the whole farm.

Three more years passed again, and as Marcus reached the age of 21, their grandmother passed away from old age. His siblings were all nearing their adulthood, and 4 of them volunteered to stay on the farm to help him run it. The youngest of them all, Margaret, went to work in a factory in the middle of town and to live with her boyfriend. Another 2 years passed, and Margaret had a young baby girl. Marcus, his other brother and his three other sisters were running the farm well, they were making steady money and expanding their land. They hired more hands to help them care for the land, but something odd was happening in the community. More people were disappearing during the winters, only to be found mangled and dead after the spring thaw. Everyone was becoming frightful, and people were beginning to move out of the town. Another three years cycled by, and Mewtwo wondered whether he had been washed into another dimension altogether.

Margaret's three year old daughter gleefully played in the winter snow for an entire day, and as nightfall passed, Margaret came outside to call her inside, only to find her missing. A search party was called up, but no trace was found of the unfortunate girl. Marcus began to hear strange and disturbing sounds outside the house at night, and he advised his family to stay in at night. Something incredibly evil was lurking in the small town and he could feel it. Every passing day he could feel its presence grow stronger, and every passing day brought news of another odd disappearance. The dream cycled the rest of the winter months away, and come the spring thaw, the body of Margaret's daughter was found in a pile along with several other missing persons, all sharing the same grisly fate. Marcus had enough of it, he left the house one evening and went to the real estate agent, he had agreed with the rest of the family to sell the house and to move out of town.

It was an especially long meeting with the real estate agent, and as he got in his truck and left the last few bits of twilight faded into the sinister darkness of night. He shivered in fear as he passed through the deserted streets, the town he had spent his entire life in suddenly felt like a ghost town. And as he reached the halfway home point, the engine in his ancient truck finally gave up the ghost and sputtered to a halt. He fished a flashlight out of the glove box and reluctantly stepped out of the truck and into the inky darkness. The spear of light from his flashlight was the only thing that kept the total blackness from closing in on him out in the open country, and he opened the hood and shined it in over the engine. An essential series of tubes had completely burst, and the alternator had literally fallen to pieces. The many times he and his brothers had stuck it back together could not last long. He would need a lot of light and time to fix this, so he slammed the hood shut and began to walk the lonely road the rest of the way home.

As the complete silence was only broken by the light padding of Marcus' boots on the grass and his low breathing, the air felt oppressive and evil, there was not even the lightest flutter of wind. The light from his flashlight gouged a trail into the ink ahead of him, but it had little dispersement and the darkness hugged his sides and back. And a sudden, low rustle caught Marcus' attention. He stood dead still and held his breath, listening with every nerve in his body on end. At first there was only complete and total silence, and then the clear rustling of leaves was heard to Marcus' left. Marcus began to slowly move the flashlight beam toward the source of the noise when another sound became audible. It was eerily familiar, the same dull guttural growling that he had heard outside his house every winter for the last six years. His face turned pale as he heard the growl grow in intensity and was joined by another. They were coming from the same exact location as where the rustling noise had come from. He slowly settled the flashlight beam on a bush where the noises were coming from, and the dull green leaves rattled and rustled as something moved inside the bush.

Marcus felt his heart was pounding like a great drum, going hundreds of miles an hour. Sweat was pouring out of every pore on his body, and adrenaline coursed through him in rivers. He slowly and jerkily reached down to grab the pistol on his belt, clicked it to a loaded slot, and aimed at the bush. More horrifying growls were heard, and Marcus' breath was in clouds in front of his face as the air suddenly chilled a bit. And just as his heart reached a pace that could be described as too fast for a hummingbird, a hideous form leapt out of the bushes toward him. Eight hairy legs and many glowing eyes rocketed toward him through the dark air. His pistol rang out in the darkness, bursts of light and loud reports that echoed over the seemingly deadened town. The gigantic spider screeched and fell, it's legs curling up as the bullets completely separated it's monstrous head from its bulbous body. And suddenly, Marcus was gone, he had bolted like a deer and ran faster than he had ever ran before. He was not pursued by the spiders, which could have easily outstripped him. They instead were busy feasting on the body of their unfortunate comrade.

As soon as Marcus got home he roused his siblings and farmhands. He instructed the farmhands to leave town and told them they were fired, and had his brothers and sister pack their things immediately. They had emptied the house before morning and were gone as the sun rose. As the dream suddenly began to fade, Mewtwo was left with the vision of the spiders consuming the town, devouring the last few occupants until no-one was left. He awoke covered in cold sweat, wondering why he had seen what he had seen, and suddenly feeling very morose and sad. He left the small hideaway in the castle that he had found and walked until he found a window. There was no sun through the sinister black clouds that covered the planet, but Mewtwo knew he had slept through the rest of the night. He now only had 2 days left before the invasion.

**Chapter XXXVII**

Rauru had never seen such incredible improvement in any of those he had taught before. As Mewtwo sat completely still on the floor of the Chamber of Sages, Rauru assaulted his mind with insults and other mental distractions. He sent violent images, heart rending emotions, and messages of blame and hate to Mewtwo's mind, but Mewtwo was completely unaffected. As he slowly sent all the images, Rauru performed one final test. He sent a message blaming Mewtwo for Kalana's death once more, and then threw the fastest punch at Mewtwo that he could muster. Mewtwo simply remained clear and was able to easily lean to the side a few inches in order to dodge the punch.

Rauru stood back and smiled. "I do believe your training is done. You may leave the clear minded state." Mewtwo ignored him now, still expecting another attack. "No, I am not testing you on my honor. Come now, and tell me how you achieved this vast improvement."

This time Mewtwo slowly released the iron stated mind and let his thoughts come fluttering back. "A message came to me in a dream." He began, remembering the dream as if it had still just happened to him. He recanted the entire tale to Rauru in great detail. Although Mewtwo had to explain how trucks worked, Rauru still understood the general premise of the message that had been encoded in this vision. Mewtwo spoke one more time before letting Rauru explain his thoughts; "I think it is clear, something or someone was trying to show me what would happen if a hero did not arise and stand up against a growing evil."

"And I would agree with you completely. Through your tales you have told me of many times when fate has intervened on your behalf, and it is obvious now that this has happened once again. Destiny has something in store for you yet that neither you nor I can see, but one thing is for sure, it does not want you to fail, there is no doubt about it." Rauru said, still grinning. His meaty face shone like a small pale sun.

"But what of me without all these little messages, little interferences and guidances? Had they not happened, I would be nothing. No, I would be worse than nothing, I would have turned into a villain worse than what currently lurks outside the atmosphere of this world. If it weren't for that small boy who sacrificed himself before me, I would have killed billions of innocents. And even now I need help from beyond to stay on track." Mewtwo said, suddenly feeling despondent.

"Stop putting yourself down, all of us have our dark times. I certainly would not have become the Sage of Light without certain interventions from Destiny. None of us are purely good or evil, even the divided versions of yourself. From what you have said, if it took Lightest's death to truly purify Darkest, that meant that there was some hint of goodness in his shriveled heart, no matter how miniscule and deeply hidden, and there was always some bitterness and negativity in Lightest, no matter how well he repressed them. Pure good and evil cannot exist naturally, and for them to is dangerous to the order of the universe for them to do so. And no matter what horrifying deeds you have done in your past, as long as you make an effort to replace them with good ones, it will make your life that much more of a positive effect on the world. Look at the life of the young hero clad in green, the adventurous Link. After he defeated Ganon, Zelda performed an act of healing by returning our world seven years back in time. By doing so, she gave Link his boyhood back and erased seven years of horrific memories from the people of Hyrule. And now, the people do not have any memory of Link's deeds whatsoever, except for the other Sages, Zelda and I. Although almost all of our people will not remember the gifts Link gave to them, we Sages and Zelda always will, and it is the difference they have made in all our lives that count. Even if you can only make a positive change in one person's life, it is still all the difference in the Universe." Rauru finished and sighed, still smiling at Mewtwo who was now deep in thought.

"Now, I propose we go and find ourselves something to eat, it's half an hour past lunch time and I'm starving!" Rauru said merrily, patting his enormous jiggling belly.

The food in the Castle was delicious as usual, but there was an Empty spot at the table where Zelda used to sit. Mewtwo and the other sages sat and ate silently, grief still hovering over them like clouds threatening to release a deluge of tears. No-one talked or laughed, and the delightful culinary wonders seemed dulled to the pallets of the saddened Sages. Only a small black handkerchief remained in Zelda's seat, folded neatly and set on the shining silver dinner plate. Impa, the seeming façade of stone that almost never showed any emotion, was slowly holding back her tears. The gray haired woman had been Zelda's attendant for years, tucking her in as a child and taking her on walks in Kakariko Village by the foot of Death Mountain. Now as she sat, poking a prime rib on the lavish silver plate, a small teardrop rolled down her angled cheek and landed on the meat of the steak. She suddenly pushed the plate aside, not wanting to eat anymore.

As everyone at the circular table finally either finished their food or stopped eating, Rauru stood up to make an announcement. "Fellow Sages, I understand these are hard times, and that some of us are still in mourning for the late Princess, but evil is pressing ever closer and we must act soon before much more is lost. The Triforce must be reformed, and now as Mewtwo holds two of the three pieces, we are 2/3 done with the task. But we are still far from our goal, and Zelda's sudden death has left us with a hole in our Circle of Sages. We have need of a new Sage of Time, and the one who possesses the Triforce of Wisdom is the one who shall take her place." As Rauru finished, the eyes of all the Sages turned to Mewtwo, who suddenly felt inadequate and ashamed.

"How can I be a sage? I'm not worthy!" Mewtwo protested, not feeling worthy of the tast set out before him. "Look how many times I have dangerously flaunted the stability of the Time stream! The lad of Termina looked to be on the verge of collapsing when I left it!"

"But you my friend, have more real life experience with the ebbs and flows of the Time Stream than any of us or any other person in Hyrule. And you've been through time enough times that you know not to fool with its continuity, and that is what stands out about you. You have proven your worth by expressing your own concern about your actions in time, and that caution and concern is the best attribute that any Sage of Time needs." Rauru said.

"Here here!" Darunia said heartily, standing up and clapping his meaty hands. And then all the other Sages showed their approval and stood as well, clapping their hands in unison.

"Come here and I will give you the mark of a Sage." Rauru said, standing up as well and gesturing toward the still hesitating Mewtwo. "Come now, it is a gift for me to give to you, and you shall receive it for good or evil."

Mewtwo slowly stood and walked past the other Sages who were eagerly watching him with anticipation. Again Mewtwo felt the need to find a solitary place and to be away from all the attention. As he approached Rauru, Rauru reached out a hand that was now glowing bright white. He grabbed Mewtwo's left hand and pressed the glowing energy into Mewtwo skinny forearm. A slight stinging was all that Mewtwo felt in his arm, and as Rauru let go the feeling vanished as well.

"It is done, you have become the new Sage of Time." Rauru said.

Mewtwo looked down at his left arm where Rauru had held it, and a small circular symbol had been imprinted into his flesh. It was the Hylian Symbol for "Time", and it seemed to be embossed into him.

"Now, you have been trained in the art of clearing your mind, and your power at manipulating energy is unmatched by even us, but there remains one more skill you must train in before you can face Ganondorf. You must become a master at the blade, and the one who will train you shall be the Spirit Sage, Nabooru." Rauru said.

Nabooru stepped up to Mewtwo with a wry smile that reminisced of the ones Kalana used to give him and said; "I have heard many good things about your skills from the Hylian soldiers, they told me they saw you defeat a Stalchild master outside the gates of the Castle the first night you came to this land. They also told me that you used the blade from a Peahat as well, a weapon remarkably flimsy and fragile when compared to the finely crafted weapons of the Gerudos. But know that when I train you, I will hold back nothing due to our lack of time. You will need to learn quickly the many techniques that Ganondorf took from his life with the Gerudos, and what you can do to counter them. I have fought him before, and I can teach you quickly how to stand up to him. But just know, I will give you the same amount of leniency as Ganondorf will, so be prepared."

Part of Mewtwo smiled inside, the familiar pride of the Gerudos was familiar and it made him feel a bit more at home. "I am ready for anything you can throw at me." He said.

**Chapter XXXVIII**

"You're a skilled fighter." Nabooru grunted, pushing back against Mewtwo with an extra long double ended scimitar.

Mewtwo held her back with the Master sword, his feet digging into the dusty ground painfully. He used a burst of strength and threw Nabooru away. Nabooru kept her balance and used the momentum to spin around with another attack from her scimitar. Again Mewtwo blocked, and following Nabooru's example, used the momentum from the clash to swing around to Nabooru's other side. Nabooru blocked, but the blow had come close to finding its mark. She jumped back and prepared the next round.

"As are you, although it is a given with your years of experience." Mewtwo said, drawing the tip of the Master Sword through the dust.

"You fight a lot like a Gerudo," Nabooru began, "Have you been trained by one of my people before?"

Mewtwo had indeed been taught well by the Red Elder, but he knew not to let Nabooru know of his past with the Gerudos. "No, but I have watched your people fight many times before."

"You learn very fast then." Nabooru said, holding her scimitar slightly off balance, preparing for an attack.

Fires blazing on individual torches filled the Castle Courtyard where Mewtwo and Nabooru were sparring. The normally grassy ground of the Courtyard had been purged of plant life by the extended darkness, and as people came and went the ground had turned into a large patch of dust. The light from the torches danced across the stone walls of the courtyard and played tricks on the eyes of both competitors, making it hard to see movements and judge distances. The air was totally still as both of them watched for a move from the other, and Nabooru smirked in the dark as she decided to take the initiative. She silently leapt into the air, sailing toward Mewtwo with the blade of her scimitar rushing to meet his skull. Mewtwo saw and heard it coming, and sidestepped to allow Nabooru to plant her blade in the dirt. As the blade was stuck in the ground, Mewtwo stopped the Master Sword right next to Nabooru's face, and Nabooru smiled. She now knew that flamboyancy would not intimidate Mewtwo, and his fighting style was absolutely no-nonsense and efficient.

"Seems like a bit of a careless attack." Mewtwo said, drawing the blade back in order to allow Nabooru to finish pulling her blade out of the ground.

Nabooru did not reply however, she was too busy pulling a page from Mewtwo's book. As soon as her scimitar was freed from the ground she rushed at Mewtwo in a blindingly fast quick attack and stopped it just in front of his face.

"Touché." Nabooru said, winking.

The two fighters returned to their starting positions and began again. Mewtwo watched as Nabooru began the preparation for a warmly familiar attack that he remembered well to this day. Nabooru gripped the middle of her double ended scimitar and held it horizontally against her body so that the two blades were perpendicular to her body and extended out from her at a perfect ninety degree angle. She then stepped backwards two thirds of a step and jumped forward, springing her back leg in order to giver her entire body a spin. The two blades rotated like a tornado and slashed through the air toward Mewtwo, who knew easily how to counter the attack. The Gerudos he had known in the future used this technique almost to the point of overuse, and he had figured out an easy way to stop the attack. He raised the Master Sword and held it vertically in front of him. As the tornado attack reached him, the Master sword caught the spinning scimitar and the force of the collision threw Nabooru's spin off completely. The scimitar was flung out of her hands, spinning to a stop on the ground a few feet away. The impact also knocked the Master Sword out of Mewtwo's hand, and as Nabooru landed, her hair was a complete mess and she looked impressed.

"An interesting way to block the attack, leaving us both unarmed." Nabooru said, smiling at Mewtwo. "But should your opponent have a second blade," and in the middle of the sentence, Nabboru slipped out a dagger and dashed at Mewtwo, stopping it in front of his neck. "Then you would be completely defenseless."

"Good point." Mewtwo said, backing off. He began to feel in the darkness for the Master Sword, but Nabooru interrupted him.

"Care for some unarmed sparring?" Nabooru asked him, sheathing her small curved dagger."

Mewtwo frowned and sighed. He knew that by now after all his training, his arms were not as skinny and weak, but they were still short, and Nabooru had significantly longer arms than his. "Ok, but if either of us feels that a hit is too hard, we should stop." He said.

"Very good." Nabooru said, stepping back and raising her fists. Before Mewtwo could react, she was on him, throwing fast but weak punches in a flurry.

Mewtwo was decenty at dodging punches, but the confounding speed at which Nabooru attacked was keeping him in the physical defensive. He took the blows to his arms with small tinges of pain, thankful that Nabooru wasn't hitting hard. When his arms felt that they had had enough of this treatment, he decided to try and return a few punches, but they fell drastically short. Nabooru simply leaned back and all Mewtwo connected with was air. His shorter arms were a major disadvantage and he tried as hard as he could to think of an alternative as Nabooru returned to the offensive. A sudden change in her attack patterns caught his attention, she stopped throwing large amounts of weak punches, she instead began to put some power in her blows. The punches suddenly became much slower as she threw her body into them, giving Mewtwo enough time to actually dodge most of them for once. Clouds of dust rose from the ground as the moved sporadically through the Courtyard, Mewtwo still not making any offensive moves.

As Nabooru threw a particularly slow and powerful punch, Mewtwo finally found the opportunity to return a few blows. He sidestepped and grabbed Nabooru's arm as she pulled back to maintain her balance, and then landed a decent punch in her stomach. Before he could attack again however, Nabooru snapped out of his grip like lightning and punched him equally hard in the chest. He felt a good amount of wind knocked out of him, but he stayed on his feet as he saw another opportunity arise. As Nabooru moved forward to punch him yet again, he swung his tail around and wrapped it around her feet. He then yanked her feet out from under her, causing her to fall onto her back. She recovered quickly, and leapt back onto her feet in one fluid motion. Right as she landed on her feet she also managed to grasp Mewtwo's tail in her hands and pulled on it hard, causing him to shout out in pain. He recoiled with a powerful back kick, catching Nabooru directly in the stomach and knocking her backwards off of her feet. She flew a few feet through the air from the power in the kick, losing her grip on Mewtwo's tail completely.

Nabooru climber to her feet, not leaping up gracefully as she had done last time. She spoke in an almost labored voice; "That was very impressive, you completely knocked the wind out of me. You are very good at defending yourself without the sword, shall we train with weapons once more?"

Mewtwo felt accomplished, he smiled and said; "Yes, if you're ok. I kicked you too hard and maybe we should take a break before starting again."

"Do not do me favors, it is Gerudo honor to take blows as hard as you give them, and offering me respite when I have hit you just as hard is insulting." Nabooru said, frowning.

Mewtwo didn't remember Nabooru hitting him that hard, but he was recoiling a bit from the bite in Nabooru's voice and decided not to speak up. He found the Master Sword lying on the ground and picked it up again. Nabooru found her scimitar and dusted it off a bit.

"Now, I want to see from you the most opportunistic fighting that you can give. Do not just attack with the blade, punch and kick as well, but do not use your powers. That would render this training pointless. Now, be offensive! Come at me! Attack!" Nabooru said, gesturing for Mewtwo to attack her.

Mewtwo did not like being the first to attack, his fighting style worked better when countering the attacks of his opponent. He felt awkward rushing up to Nabooru and swinging at her head, and his feelings were justified when Nabooru dodged to the side perfectly. As he tried to see where she had stopped, she landed a kick to his left leg and he stumbled forward onto his knee. He felt the cool steel of Nabooru's scimitar touch the back of his neck and scowled. Without letting any dialogue pass, Mewtwo countered the compromising situation by swinging his tail up to knock the scimitar away from his neck. He then spun around and swung the Master Sword in a liquid smooth movement, catching Nabooru by surprise. She leapt back barely in time in order to avoid getting disemboweled. Mewtwo pressed the attack by kicking at Nabooru before he had even finished swinging the Master Sword, and he caught Nabooru's right leg and knocked it out from under her. He brought the Master sword back and stopped it in front of her face. It was another flawlessly executed touché and Nabooru was impressed.

Again, Nabooru took a page from Mewtwo's book and threw the standstill off without a pause, kicking Mewtwo in the arm with her other leg, causing the blade of the Master Sword to fly away from her and leaving Mewtwo exposed. She jumped up, dropping her scimitar, and reached her arm around Mewtwo's neck in a stone solid headlock. Mewtwo simply dropped the Master Sword and grabbed both of her shoulders, lifting his leg and kneeing Nabooru in the stomach. Nabooru fell backwards, releasing the headlock, and grabbed her Scimitar off of the ground. She brought it up and blocked a sudden blow from Mewtwo, who had taken the moment to pick up the Master Sword once more. And then Mewtwo swung his tail around and knocked the scimitar out of Nabooru's hands. He stopped the Master Sword in front of her face once again.

"I think," Nabooru began, "That your tail has given you the advantage over me, and it will give you one against any other sword fighter you will meet."

Mewtwo eased back and panted, he was tired and he did not feel up for any more sparring. "Do you think that I need more training?" He asked.

"I think that if you were to fight someone with blade alone, without using your tail, you would be an excellent fighter. With your tail, you can defeat me and any of my tribe's best fighters. I don't believe that there's anything more I can teach you."

Mewtwo wiped the sweat off his face and sighed with relief and accomplishment. As he shook hands with Nabooru, a part of him felt happier and this time period felt a lot more welcoming. And the part of him which constantly cried that he could not match Ganondorf in combat was now suddenly quieted.

A/N: We return to training once again, and all it takes is a simple message to motivate Mewtwo to succeed. The final confrontation is rushing up at extremely high speeds, it will be here VERY soon! Keep your pants on kiddies, the ride's about to really kick into high gear!


	26. Part III: Of Darkness and Light Chunk 15

**The Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ  
**Part III: Of Darkness and Light**

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk FIFTEEN. All right people, here it is! The grand finale! The super big ending special! The chunk to end all chunks! The closing of this part and probably the whole series!

**Chapter XL**

"Your training is complete, you have been found as strong as any other sage." Rauru had said, "Now you may spend the final day before the invasion preparing yourself. Do what you will so that your mind will be able to handle anything in the coming day of reckoning."

And so now Mewtwo was slowly flying over the kingdom, absorbing the natural solitude and relaxing his mind and body. The Kingdom of Hyrule was truly beautiful, the pure flowing waters, majestic trees and the lush greenery were splendorous beyond compare. He found himself floating directionlessly over the pristine lands, slowly entering a state of meditation. Without intending, Mewtwo cleared his mind in the same fashion as his training had taught him to. His mind, tuning into instinctual mode, slowly minimized his energy usage so that he floated in the air by a feather light amount of energy usage. The wind moved him through the sky freely and he didn't care where it would take him. As his mind slowly unified with the environment around him, he began to connect with the life essences of all of the beings in Hyrule.

The pulse of the world seemed to beat within Mewtwo's mind, he saw and felt experiences through the eyes of wild deer, roaming dogs, and traveling Hylian merchants. All was in perfect harmonious balance, time and nature had worked together to create a world unlike any other in the Universe, and Mewtwo slowly began to understand how it all worked. As his mind linked with the world's essence, he was able to see past events with clarity, events that had left marks in the continuum of this world. He saw the beginning of this world's existence, three glowing figures descending from space and creating Hyrule. He saw the Kingdom of Hyrule arise from bloody wars and the unification of the Three Races of the land. He saw Ganondorf's rise to power and his fall at Link's hands. And he saw his own arrival from a small dimensional doorway deep within the lost woods. The existence of the Vile Desert and the Empire's reign were yet to be written into the world's history now, and Mewtwo knew he could prevent them.

And as Mewtwo continued to look into the essence of the world, he saw again the three glowing figures. Each glowed a different color; red, green, and blue. They were holding their hands out to hold on to a long tangled thread, a thread that looped in and around itself and was tied in knots. They smiled as they held the strand, knowing that it would soon be time to let it snap taut, and then the image faded. Mewtwo opened his eyes and saw the sun slowly setting over the Desert, the last day before the invasion was drawing to a close. Mewtwo wisely decided that it would be a good idea to get a lot of sleep before the stressful events that were coming tomorrow. He flew back down to the castle, found his room, and laid his head down to rest.

In his dreams, Mewtwo returned to the alternate future of Hyrule that he had known in those past 5 years, where the burning desert covered the land and the Gerudos struggled to survive. He was taken back to the scene in the tower raid when he and the Gerudos had stolen the food from the Empire. His mind replayed the scene where the Gerudo soldiers were ripped to shreds by the machine guns, and as they laid dead on the floor, the entire scenario froze. And then those dead Gerudos sudden blinked their eyes open and all stared at Mewtwo coldly and emotionlessly.

"Give us a second chance." The bloody faced Gerudos whispered, and then the dream changed again.

The dream accelerated to the Imperial attack on the Blue village, the two silvery tanks slowly and methodically moved toward the village. As Mewtwo watched himself get blasted backward and knocked out, the dream showed him the other Gerudos metting less fortunate fates. He saw them being riddled with bullets, blown apart by the turrets on the tanks, and drawn in by the mind controlling incantation. The scene froze, and all those who had met unfortunate ends stood back up and faced Mewtwo.

"It is in your hands, this doesn't have to happen." They all said.

Again the dream changed, Mewtwo saw Kalana and himself being strapped down in the Imperial torture room. He saw Firetongue gleefully putting them both through physical and emotional hell, and he nearly cried to himself as his dream forced him to relive each and every agonizing torture. And then, he watched as Firetongue gave him the knife and taunted him to throw it. Mewtwo cried out to himself not to throw the knife, but history would not change in hindsight and the knife sailed through the air deadly and true. Firetongue disappeared and Kalana was stuck in the stomach in his stead. As Kalana's last breath finally left her, the scene froze and the strap over her mouth disappeared so she could speak directly to him.

"I forgive you." Kalana said. "It wasn't your fault, and now you can prevent it from ever happening. Don't do it for me as much as for yourself."

And then, the dream faded, and Mewtwo was left with one feeling as his sleep became blank and dreamless; resolution. A hundred ton weight lifted off of his mind and soul, and he felt he could suddenly breathe like he never could after Kalana's death. His sleep then faded away into blankness, and it was one of the most rejuvenating sleeps he had ever had in his life.

For once as Mewtwo was shaken awake, it did not feel like he had only just laid down to sleep. He opened his eyes to see a Zora standing over him, wearing a look of awe. Even with his uniform, pupil free eyes, the Zora conveyed a lot of emotion through his eyes.

"Light Sage Mewtwo, the other Sages have summoned you." The young Zora lad said, standing back in case Mewtwo might lash out at him.

"Thanks, I felt like I was about to wake up anyway." Mewtwo said, standing up.

As Mewtwo walked out into the hallways of the castle, the young Zora boy followed behind him, keeping a good distance out of respect, awe and fear. Mewtwo smiled at the sound of his footsteps behind him and raised his arm to gesture for him to walk closer.

"Tell me, what's your name little Zora?" Mewtwo asked as the young fish boy strode up beside him, still timid.

"Venca Hi'tero, sir." The boy replied, remaining terse with timidity.

"Can I call you Ven?" Mewtwo asked as they reached a flight of stairs.

Venca nodded, looking down at his feet and remaining silent.

"You seem awfully quiet, what's the matter?" Mewtwo asked, curious as to the mind of a child.

"My mother told me that if I were to insult a Sage, I could be whipped and denied a turn in the water today." Venca said, frightened he might be reprimanded for saying this.

Mewtwo remained silent for a moment as the two of them descended the stairway toward the main floor of the Castle. "Sometimes, you need to live for the day." Mewtwo said, smiling at the young Zora.

"Whaddya mean?" Venca asked, looking up at Mewtwo with the somewhat disconcerting Zora eyes.

"Sometimes you have to just have fun today, because life is too short to take it too seriously. It took me a very long time to figure that out." Mewtwo said.

"How long?" Venca asked, glowing with curiosity.

"All of my life, up until last night." Mewtwo said, sighing. "I've been so worried about what my deeds have done in the long run that I've been miserable my whole life. And now that I have learned, it may soon come crashing down upon me…" Mewtwo trailed off at the last part of the sentence.

"Crashing down? What do you mean? Are you going to get a job as a laborer or somethin'?" Venca asked.

Mewtwo smiled sadly at the innocent ignorance of the small child, his parents must have decided to not spoil what could be his last days with worries about his life coming to an end.

"No, I've just got a lot to do now in my future and I might not have the free time to do what I want to anymore." Mewtwo said. They passed through the main hall of the castle and both were silent for a time. "But, you don't have to worry about me, I'm just a silly old Sage and you have your entire childhood ahead of you where you can play all day and enjoy your life."

As the two of them exited the main gates of the Castle, Venca turned away from Mewtwo to go to a different area. Before he went though, he gave Mewtwo a hug on the arm and said; "I hope you can find some spare time outside all your old silly sage stuff! See you later!" And with that, he skipped off down the streets toward the pool where the Zoras were swimming.

As Mewtwo approached the Temple of Time, he found himself wishing he had had a childhood. He had been kept unconscious all of his formative years by the scientists, and because of it he had become the mentally unstable and violent person that he had been for so many years. Odd how the scientist's biggest mistake was not creating him, but not letting his mind learn and grow on its own during the time that he matured. They could have created some sort of simulation program, but they instead chose to leave a black void of unconsciousness and had planted the biggest seeds of negativity in his heart. And now that he recognized them, their roots of blackness in his soul seemed to shrivel.

The portal to the Chamber of Sages opened as Mewtwo pressed his hand against the symbol for Time on the Temple wall. He walked into the glowing light with a mind much more at ease than it had ever been before.

**Chapter XLI**

"What lies beyond the portal we are about to open even we cannot tell." Rauru slowly said to Mewtwo. "The Sacred Realm was once the resting place for the Triforce, but ever since Ganondorf entered it and caused it to split and enter our world, only the gods know what has happened in that now forsaken plane. Are you ready?"

Mewtwo felt an iron hand of nervousness clutching at his heart, but in his mind he knew that he was ready. "I am. Open the portal now." He said, clutching the Master Sword and feeling his knapsack to make sure he had the Light Arrows.

"There is one last thing I must show you before we can open the portal. You know the emblem of the Sage of Time that you bear on your arm?" Rauru asked.

Mewtwo looked over at his right arm reflexively, wondering what Rauru was going to show him now. "What about it?" He asked.

"I want you to clear your mind again, of everything except this symbol. Hold your hands above your head and concentrate on this Emblem. Do it now." Rauru said.

Mewtwo felt slightly confused, but he didn't ask any questions. He locked his mind onto the symbol and let all other thoughts and feelings fade away. Holding his hands over his head, he felt nothing happen as his mind became empty of everything except the swirling Hylian emblem. And then suddenly, he felt an electrifying tingle and a moderate energy drain on his system. A flash of energy blinked over his head as a small disc appeared out of thin air. He opened his eyes and saw something that threw emotion back into his mind. A small, rainbow colored Medallion bearing that same symbol now floated down through the air and came to rest in his hands.

"That is the Time Medallion, the culmination of the knowledge and power of the Sage of Time. Just as I have the Light Medallion and Darunia the Fire Medallion as the culminations of all our abilities as sages, so do you have your own Medallion now as well." Rauru said.

Mewtwo held the glistening disc in his hands, it cycled in many colors and the energy of every millisecond that permeated the fabric of reality. And as he held it, he felt the pasts of every Time Sage of the past, their lives flickering past his eyes in an instant that seemed to stretch into an eternity. And Mewtwo saw and felt Zelda's life as well. He felt her insecurities and her fears, he felt her joys and sadnesses, and suddenly knew why she had killed herself. And then he felt a portion of himself pass into the Medallion as well, he was being written into the history of this world. And then, the energy slowly faded back to levels of innate normality and time around Mewtwo seemed to return to its regular pace.

"Remember, should you be killed at the hands of another sentient being, they shall inherit this Medallion and it's power. If you die of natural causes however, it will go to the one person you in your heart know is worthy of taking upon the responsibility of Time Sage." Rauru said.

"How will I know who is worthy to receive it though?" Mewtwo asked, still recovering from all the images that had passed into his mind.

"You judgment at heart will determine it, not your conscious thought." Rauru said. "Just be sure that you do not allow someone of an evil nature claim your life."

"_No wonder Darkest had control over the Fire, Water, and Darkness Medallions,_" Mewtwo thought, "_He must have killed their sages or the descendants of their Sages._"

"The Medallion will only take physical form when you will it to, and it will stay in that form until you will it to dematerialize back into yourself. Know that your power will be diminished while the Medallion is in physical form, and it's own power is innately amplified while in this form. Also, while it is manifested in this solid form, you will be able to lend others your powers by giving it to them."

"I understand." Mewtwo replied.

"To re-absorb the Medallion into yourself, hold it to your body and concentrate all your though into it. It will reunite with you and your abilities will return to their previous state. It is up to you to decide whether to keep it in this form or to keep it inside yourself, either path has its advantages. But we must open the portal soon, we do not know when the in vasion will begin today, it could very well be starting in minutes." Rauru said calmly.

Mewtwo knew the advantage of keeping the Medallion in physical form was a powerful one, he remembered how Darkest had brought them out into these forms to do battle with Lightest those five years ago, but if Ganondorf were to steal the Medallion from him, it would give the King of Evil a major advantage in their battle. Mewtwo reluctantly held the Medallion against himself and concentrated, and as he stood and thought only about it, it slowly melted into the air and disappeared. He felt the same tingling that he had felt while forming it, and opened his eyes. The other Sages looked at him with nearly solemnity, understanding their fates rested in his hands. "I'm ready." He said.

"Now, do as we do, raise your arms into the air and concentrate your mind on opening the portal that lies in the center of this platform. Channel your Sagely energies into the task, and we will all act as one to open the way for you." Rauru said.

Each of the Sages stepped back onto their circular symbol floor tiles and raised their arms, Mewtwo included among them. Each closed their eyes and glowing orbs of energy formed over all of their heads. These balls of light then spiraled up into the air and converged, and then fell down into the center of the platform inside the circle of the Sages. A glowing white circle in the floor flickered to life as the Sages' energies mixed into one, and the doorway was opened. The white circle grew to a diameter of five feet and stabilized. The Sages lowered their arms and opened their eyes.

"Go now, said Rauru, "The Triforce is-" but he was cut off

A bone chilling, sinister laughter poured out of the portal, and the Sages all stared down into it with mixtures of fear and hatred. The laugh was hollow, evil and maniacal, and as it slowed to a stop a hand slowly emerged from the portal. It was of orange Gerudo skin and wore a black spiked gauntlet. It gripped the edge of the portal and pulled the rest of its owner out. Ganondorf's tall sinister form rose from the white void with an evil grin. As he finally completely emerged, the portal closed under his feet and he surveyed the shocked audience that beheld him. He then looked straight into Mewtwo's eyes and smiled the most sinister smirk that Mewtwo had ever seen.

"I do not know who or what you are creature, but I owe you for subduing the Sages singlehandedly and freeing me from my imprisonment. If there's anything I can do to be of assistance to you." Ganondorf said casually.

"Give me the Triforce of Power." Mewtwo said, deciding to let Ganondorf think what he would.

"That item, my friend, is something I would not part with even if it meant my life." Ganondorf said, his smile fading into suspicion.

"Then it will meant your life!" Mewtwo blasted psychically into Ganondorf's mind.

And suddenly, the Sages broke their stillness and silence, lashing out at Ganondorf with their elemental magics. Ganondorf roared in rage and dodged the blasts only to see Mewtwo bearing down at him with the Master Sword in hand.

"So this is the trap you Sages have set for me!" Ganondorf bellowed, and floated up into the air to dodge the blows screaming toward him. "Then I will take this fight to where it will be more balanced!"

Suddenly, Ganondorf disappeared out of the room, having magically teleported. Mewtwo grunted with frustration and followed the energy signature left behind in order to follow him. He too disappeared out of the chamber in hot pursuit. The other six Sages took deep breaths and relaxed. They regained their composure and prepared to follow the two fighters in order to aid Mewtwo in battle, but a sudden shaking in the floor stopped them in their tracks. The Imperial bombardment had begun, and the invasion was now only an hour away.

**Chapter XLII**

"Welcome," Ganondorf said, "To the Haunted Wasteland."

A sorrowful desert wind howled across the darkened orange sands of the Gerudo Desert on the Western border of Hyrule. The feeling of sand under Mewtwo's feet brought memories back to his mind, but he pushed them aside in order to concentrate on his opponent before him. Ganondorf blended into the darkness of the Imperial night frighteningly well, but his bright yellow eyes stood out in the dark.

"This is the place my people were forced to live in by the Hylians, where many have died in the brutal sun. Here I was born, and I know this land well. Here we will battle, away from all those who might aid you. And what's this I feel?" Ganondorf asked, lifting his right hand up in front of his face. He examined it thoroughly. "The Triforce is resonating yet again; the three pieces are near each other." Ganondorf looked down at Mewtwo with a sudden greedy grin. "This can only mean that you possess the two other pieces I seek."

Mewtwo raised his right hand in defiance. The two Triforce pieces in it shone brilliantly. "I have sought you out in order to complete the Triforce. I will take the final piece from you by any means necessary."

"And I was about to say the same thing." Ganondorf laughed. Suddenly, the battle began.

In the blink of an eye the two fighters closed the distance between themselves and a shockwave blasted through the air as Ganondorf's giant sword clashed with the Master Sword. The two opposing energies reacted and knocked the opponents away from each other, only for them to quickly turn and attack again. Ganondorf's blade glowed with an unholy darkness and the Master Sword shone bright and blue. As blows were exchanged the concussions slowly knocked waves of sand back away from the areas that the two foes met. Crackling electricity filled the air before either side had even pulled out any of their stops.

As it became apparent that neither of them were gaining any ground, Ganondorf decided to try a different method of fighting. He pulled back away from Mewtwo and used his dark magic to hover up into the air. He charged a dark energy ball different from any other that Darkest had used. As it formed, this energy sphere slowly grew spikes out of its exterior. Ganondorf laughed maniacally and thrusted his fist into it, shattering it. Thousands of razor sharp glowing shards peppered the air. Mewtwo raised his shield but they passed right through it unaffected. He managed to teleport out of their way at the last second, and took the fight to Ganondorf once again. He appeared behind Ganondorf and released a crippling kick to his spine. Ganondorf was thrown forward into the sand and lie still for a moment. Mewtwo's nerves were taut as a bridge cable as he waited for Ganondorf to get up and attack him, but something else caught his attention. A red glow was suddenly filling the field around them, and he could feel a monumentous boiling of energy in the air. He looked up to see a bolt of plasma rocketing down toward them from Darkest's ships in orbit. Reflexively, he teleported away safely just as the burning red bolt descended to the ground with an ear shattering explosion.

Mewtwo reappeared a few miles away, and he watched as the sand and dirt settled over the crater where Ganondorf had been. As the smoke and sand finally cleared out of the air, he flew up to investigate, only to find no sign of Ganondorf anywhere. He knew something was wrong, he still sensed Ganondorf's energy. "He must have teleported as well." Mewtwo thought to himself.

And as Mewtwo completed his thought, Ganondorf appeared behind him.

"Guess who!" Ganondorf laughed crazily. He kicked Mewtwo directly on his old battle scar and sent him flying. Mewtwo flew through the air and caught himself just before hitting the sand. He reversed direction in midair and flew back at Ganondorf, who wielded a gigantic trio of energy blasts. Ganondorf tossed these down to intercept Mewtwo, and as they neared him they each split into three more apiece and surrounded Mewtwo. A thin sheath of purple energy encapsulated Mewtwo and Mewtwo raised his shield in order to repel it. The two opposing energies sparked and raw power pulsed through the air. And then Mewtwo thrust the blade of the Master Sword out of his shield and into the thin bubble of purple energy. The imprisoning technique shattered and dissipated at the Master Sword's touch. Ganondorf was then suddenly barreling down at Mewtwo through the air at lightning speed with his giant sword at the ready.

Mewtwo was caught, he had no time to react and couldn't even teleport before the blade skewered him directly through the abdomen. He felt blood surge up his throat and out of his mouth, and his vision suddenly blurred and distorted.

"Now, give me your piece of the Triforce!" Ganondorf shouted.

Mewtwo could not speak since his wind pipe had been severed, but he entered Ganondorf's mind and psychically said as contemptuously as he could; "Never!"

Mewtwo suddenly released a stunning blast of psychic energy into Ganondorf's sword. It traveled up the black tempered steel and into Ganondorf's arms, causing him to lose his grip on the blade and fall back away twitching. Mewtwo then grabbed the hilt of the enormous weapon and with all the willpower he could muster, yanked it out of himself. As Ganondorf watched in sheer shock, Mewtwo focused his power onto the sword and bent it, twisting it into many contorted forms until the blade finally snapped. And then, he melted the metal and let the remains of the once demonic blade fall to the ground with a wet splat. Then, the hole in his stomach slowly closed up as he used his recover ability and restored himself. Ganondorf then knew it was time to go straight for what he perceived as Mewtwo's weakness. He suddenly disappeared, having teleported away.

Ganondorf then reappeared behind Mewtwo and grabbed hiss tail and crushed it into a pulp with his grip. Mewtwo nearly blacked out as the physical pain flooded his every sense. Ganondorf laughed more and gripped Mewtwo's tail in different places, squeezing until it crushed into a bloody pulp. He did it slowly, enjoying every minute. He had guess right, the tail was a weakness.

Mewtwo followed his only choice, he remembered Rauru's training and began clearing his mind. Slowly the pain began to dull as he willed his brain to block it out. Ganondorf's insane laughter suddenly became unimportant; the only thing important was that his body was taking physical harm. Mewtwo's calm mind quickly and efficiently reacted in one smooth motion. He reared both legs back and double kicked Ganondorf directly in the stomach, and wheeled around lightning fast to swung the Master Sword. The blade stuck in Ganondorf's hard armor suit, and Mewtwo reactively reached an arm back, formed an energy blade, and then thrust it into Ganondorf's hip. He then pulled out the Light Arrows, knocked one of them on the bow while Ganondorf was still falling backwards from the last series of blows, and shot it directly into Ganondorf's right hand.

And just as quickly as his first attack had been, Mewtwo shoved the bow back into his knapsack and jumped forward. He yanked the Master Sword out of Ganondorf's chest armor just as he was hitting the ground, drew it back, and drove it directly into the Evil King's heart. And all of this had happened so quickly that Ganondorf didn't even have the chance to see most of it. His body was slowly turned into a shriveled wad of carbon by the evil destroying energies of the Light Arrow and the Master Sword. As all of his earthly bounds were swept away from him, Ganondorf's true self flashed before his eyes for the moment before his death. He saw that he had only ever wanted the Gerudos to live as well as the Hylians, and he saw a growth of evil that had been clinging to his heart slowly melt away. And then, the breath of life left his body and his mind was swept into another plane.

**Chapter XLIII**

The ground shook and rumbled as the Imperial bombardment continued, and the sands in the Haunted Wasteland shifted from the disturbances. A pile of ashes sat in the center of a small crater amongst the dunes, and sticking from this black pile was one lone arrow and the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane. Standing a few feet away was a battle wearied Mewtwo. He kept his mind clear as he waited for the final piece of the Triforce to emerge.

At first, it was only a faint trace of light, but as a few minutes passed an intense golden glow radiated out from the pile of ashes that had once been Ganondorf Dragmire, King of Evil. The pile was disturbed as the golden triangle emerged and slowly climbed into the air. The other two Triforce pieces shone blindingly in Mewtwo's hand as their final counterpart slowly approached. Mewtwo's cleared mind was not surprised when the other two parts suddenly left his body, they simply pulled themselves out of his hand and flew up to meet the third piece. And with one golden blast of light, the three pieces reunited and merged. The Triforce was completed.

The Triforce hovered there in the air in front of the emotionless Mewtwo, examining his mind, body and spirit. It found his mind to be clear, and therefore balanced between power, courage, and wisdom. As soon as it found this, it spoke.

"You have proven yourself worthy in the four tests of the Triforce." The booming voice of a hundred Gods spoke to Mewtwo's mind. "You have demonstrated your courage aptly over your life, you have shown much wisdom over your journeys, through use of great power you have defeated Ganondorf, and your clean mind has the needed balance between the three attributes. Speak now, what is your wish that the power of the Gods might grant you?"

Calmly and without emotion, Mewtwo replied; "I wish that the evil in my heart and soul would be forever destroyed."

There was a long pause, almost as if the Gods themselves were thinking. And then the Triforce spoke again; "What you ask is impossible young hero, no matter how well intended. What you have witness in the separation was an anomaly in the Galaxy, unique to all of creation. When the greedy and wicked one named Giovanni created you, he created one whose very nature was an imbalance with the natural energy of the Universe. From the moment you were conceived, you were predestined to become the two physical representations of good and evil in the universe. And since this can never happen naturally, it has been creating instabilities in every dimension, big and small. To purify you would only aggravate this imbalance. But, to prevent these imbalances and to correct the time stream and energy of the cosmos, I can seal the evil away in your heart so that it may never escape your body to take on physical or ethereal form."

Mewtwo simply nodded. "Be warned, that the process is long and maddening, it is one of the most physically painful trials that any frail mortal body can endure." The Triforce said.

"I am ready." Mewtwo simply replied.

"Then it shall commence." The Triforce replied. It then flew back through the air toward Mewtwo and hit him directly in the chest, merging with him in whole.

The world as Mewtwo knew it suddenly melted away into nothingness as his senses were suddenly clouded. He saw and felt that he was hovering in a void of black emptiness, but his body still stood on the shaking sands of the Haunted Wasteland. As he looked around this fantasy world, he saw a golden beam of light suddenly shine down from the infinity above him. As it touched his body, hundreds of bolts of pain suddenly wracked his body. The light was slowly isolating the evil inside of him and containing it, and the only way it could was to scour every part of his being clean. Time seemed to suddenly slow to a crawl as Mewtwo's body was put through the wringer. Energy crept through his every nerve and blood vessel, slowly gathering up the evil essence that had been continually growing into what would have become Darkest.

The evil was slowly compressed and deadened, and after what felt like hundreds of years the pain finally stopped. Mewtwo panted and sweated, still hovering in the void. He wondered when he was going to return to reality, and was about to ask when the next phase of the purification began. He felt all his buried emotion pain and trauma suddenly dredged up as the beam of light began to open up the very backs of Mewtwo's mind. Mewtwo lost control of himself several times as he relived every negative experience in his life in complete detail, it was as if his life were flashing before his eyes in extreme slow motion. The six years of memories crawled by and as he finally relived the last of his life to this point, the golden light was able to pry open his subconscious mind. An outpouring of negativity was released; sorrow, hatred, rage, and self loathing was released from the back of the deepest parts of Mewtwo's mind in one tidal wave of tears and bellows. And then, the golden energy gathered it all up and compressed it with the rest of the negativity that it had captured.

And finally, as Mewtwo recovered, the golden light finished the process by placing the everlasting seals on the little lobe of ethereal evil. The essences of each of the sages were printed on the invisible seal, and the symbol of the Triforce itself was embossed onto the seal. And as the seal was seemingly completed, Mewtwo's senses returned to the world and the dark sands reappeared before his eyes. The ground was no longer shaking, but there were flashes of red light in the near East. Mewtwo stood up and stared in bewilderment until a voice caught his attention.

"There is only one task left for you to finish the seal on the evil in your heart." The voice of the Triforce said.

Mewtwo looked down at his chest and saw the three golden triangles embedded there in his flesh. "You must destroy once and for all the physical representation of your evil side. As long as he is in this existence, the seal is unfinished."

"How long have I been out?" Mewtwo found himself asking his chest.

"The process took an hour and a half." The Triforce replied.

"Then I must hurry." Mewtwo said and kicked off into the air to fly toward Hyrule Castle.

**Chapter XLIV**

The barrier shuddered and slowly flickered away as the Imperial barrage collectively wore down its energies. The citizens of Hyrule had held out for as long as they could, and most of the soldiers had given up their life energies to maintain the barrier. They lie dead on the top of the stone castle wall, simply no life left in them anymore. And despite their sacrifices, the barrier could hold up no longer. As it finally flickered and fell, all Imperial guns fell silent. As Hyrule Castle lie exposed, a sudden silence descended upon the world. That silence was soon interrupted by a hideous laugh. The winged dark form of Darkest slowly descended down through the air toward the helpless Hyrule Castle.

"Another day, another land conquered!" Darkest laughed, coming to a stop just a few feet above the castle wall.

What few Hylian and Gerudo soldiers remained all looked up at Darkest with sheer terror paralyzing every muscle in their bodies. Darkest smiled down at them with his razor sharp teeth and flapped his fleshy black bat wings.

"Now, let's have your energy now!" Darkest said in a low greedy tone. He psychically reached down and grabbed the life essences from the helpless Hylians and Gerudos below. He yanked these energies out of their bodies and absorbed them into his own, relishing the fresh feeling they gave him. The unfortunate victims simply topped over lifelessly, no longer having any life essence left. Darkest looked down at top of the castle wall, which was now covered in limp dead bodies. No one remained alive outside the castle. It wasn't the bodies Darkest was interested in though, he had sensed some other energy, and elemental energy hidden in the corner of the wall. He floated down and landed on the wall, and brushing the bodies of Hylians and Gerudos away like rag dolls, he found the Fire Medallion. It was still embedded in the stone of the wall, almost toally drained of all energy. Darkest reached down to take it, but something else suddenly caught his attention. He wheeled around and looked up into the sky to see a white glowing figure hovering above him.

"Lightest, you're too late! I've already conquered this world!" Darkest roared.

"You're wrong on both fronts." The white figure said. Darkest snarled with anger. "Firstly, this world is far from conquered," the white figure said. There was a slight pause. "And secondly, I'm not Lighhtest."

Mewtwo shot through the air down toward the completely shocked Darkest bearing the Master Sword in one hand and an energy blade in the other. Before Darkest could react Mewtwo attacked with incredible ferocity. He stabbed the two blades into Darkest's body hundreds of times, moving at a speed on the border of physical impossibility. Thick black blood suddenly flowed from hundreds of holes in Darkest's body. And then, as the barrage stopped, Mewtwo stood back for a moment and looked down at his evil half.

"And now, this unnatural war will finally come to an end. You will never exist again in the future, and you will never have existed in the past." Mewtwo said. The energy blade dissipated and Mewtwo swung three final blows. One blow severed Darkest's head, one stabbed him through the heart, and one slashed through his legs and tail all at once, sectioning him perfectly.

A sudden wave of supportive energy surged forward from Darkest's Centurions, intending to heal their Master and power him up. But Mewtwo glowed a brilliant white, using powers he never knew he had to block the energy being sent by the Centurions. There were thousands of them out in Hyrule field, each singly as powerful as him, but suddenly his power surged and grew enough so that he was able to deflect it away from the Dying Darkest. The streams of dark power continued without end however, and Mewtwo could not sustain long. As Darkest's mind slowly clung to life, Mewtwo was coming close to losing all the progress he had made by attacking Darkest in the first place.

Before Mewtwo's power gave out, six colorful light flashed out of the darkness. From the Temple of time came the Six Elemental Sages; Rauru, Saria, Ruto, Darunia, Impa, and Nabooru. They flew through the air and came to a stop over Hyrule field. They glowed brilliantly in each of their elemental energies and cast mighty elemental spells downwards into the swarm of Centurians. Six massive orbs of elemental magic sailed down and hit the ground in the middle of the Imperial army, and the entire field was engulfed in tremendous explosions. Mewtwo suddenly felt the energy fall away and he looked out into the field to see the last burning energies of the explosions slowly fade and clouds of smoke and dust rose into the air. He then looked down at Darkest's body. Darkest's face looked up at him, frozen in shock and fear and still clinging to life.

"In life and death, you always refused to die." Mewtwo said, "Now, it will come to an end." Mewtwo then raised the Master sword and jabbed it down into Darkest's skull. The last clinging hint of life was dispelled, and a small jolt of energy flowed through Mewtwo's body as the seal in his heart was finally completed. The final seventh symbol of the Sage of Time was embossed into the seal, and a sudden gut jerking shockwave shook Mewtwo's body.

An immense shockwave rippled through the time-space continuum as the final trace of the loop paradox that had been sustaining Darkest's existence was erased. Three glowing figures which were holding onto the time stream suddenly let go, and the looped twisted thread snapped taut in an eye blink. Worlds, dimensions, and times all shifted as one. Events passed out of existence, memories were wiped, and balance suddenly returned to the time stream. As all of time was slowly restored back to its old natural form, a small glowing golden trio of triangles shoe through into the time stream. It decided that one small set of non consequential items be unchanged by the time correction. It changed the continuum so that a few select individuals could remember the events that had suddenly blinked out of existence. It dictated that Mewtwo should remember all that he went through during his trials with Darkest, and it dictated that the Six Sages of Hyrule should also retain their memories of these events. And as the three glowing Goddesses worked the last few knots out of the time thread, they smiled at their old creation and said it would be.

**Chapter XLV**

All the way back in time, Mewtwo reappeared inside the dimensional tunnel that he had traveled through at the very start of his adventure. There in front of him he saw doorway in the dimensional tunnel. It was in perfect balance and harmony with the rest of the ambient energies of the tunnel, and as he examined it his mind was able to partially see what lied beyond. He saw a picture of Hyrule, a green, forested, lush Hyrule unmarked by any Imperial touch.

Mewtwo then decided to fly backwards through the tunnel, away from the portal to Hyrule. He had seen the three glowing figures holding the time stream, and in his heart he knew that he had been returned to his past, but part of him couldn't believe it. Hyrule was balance in the present, there was no time-space energy sinkhole, no Imperial towers, no traces that anything had every happened. As he flew back down the tunnel, he felt that the Triforce was still embedded within his chest. He looked down at it and was bewildered, but a calm soothing voice simply came from it and spoke to him.

"It is a part of the seal on the evil in your heart." A different voice said.

"Who are you?" Mewtwo asked.

"I am simply known as Din. I am the essence of the third of the Triforce that represents power."

"I am Farore, the representation of Courage." Said another voice.

"And I am Nayru, the representation of Wisdom." Said a third.

"We have given you a gift that will last you your entire life. Our essences are forever imbued in you now, and you may use them as you wish." Din's voice said.

"This will be the last time we will ever speak to you, so listen well." Said Nayru's soothing voice.

"As long as you have the Triforce, the seal will remain unbreakable until your death. You will be able to use the powers of the Triforce as your own to a limited extent, but never so much as to jeopardize the seal." Said Farore's voice.

"And finally, know that despite the fact that no one will ever remember your heroic deeds in your universe, they will be immortalized in our realm of the gods."

"Farewell hero, live your life now in peace." Din finally said, and then their voices faded.

Mewtwo wandered for a long time through the tunnel, speechless at what he had heard. The three Goddesses of Hylian lore had spoken to him, and given them their powers. He looked down at the three glowing triangles in his chest, and then at the Sage's Symbol for Time on his right forearm. All of this was hard evidence of his travels that corroborated his memories, but still part of his mind was reeling with shock and disbelief. As he flew through the dimensional tunnel for hours he pondered it, wondering if he had truly saved so many lives. He remembered Kalana, the Red Elder, and Ruru. He wondered if they now lived full, fulfilling lives in a rich prosperous land instead of a vile desert. He wondered if Zelda was now alive again, and if the odd side world of Termina had been restored. But as he contemplated these things, another dimensional door caught his attention.

Mewtwo looked down into a small hole in the wall of the tunnel, letting his mind look into the dimension that laid beyond. He saw glowing human cities, rich forests, vast oceans, and splendorous canyons. He clicked with recognition; he had found his way home. Without hesitation Mewtwo flew forward through the dimensional doorway, wondering if anything had changed while he was gone. And as he reappeared in space just outside the atmosphere of the Earth, he chuckled, reminding himself that in actuality he probably had not been really gone for longer than a few hours.

**Conclusion of Part III**

Mewtwo smiled warmly as he sat upon the corner of a familiar little apartment building in the middle of Saffron City. In reality he had sat here only days ago, but in his mind it had been six years since he had seen this city and sat in this spot. It was unchanged from the last time, the rivers of light flowed through the streets below him as the humans hurried about their busy little lives. But also, something was radically different, the scene didn't seem as dark or dreary to Mewtwo, and the scenery seemed to look much more beautiful to him. He knew why as well, he was looking at it though a completely different set of eyes from the last time he had been here. Before, he had seen only the negativity in the human's world; the crime, pollution, greed and decadence. And now, here he was a changed Pokemon, and he realized just how beautiful the world was. He still saw the negativity in the world, but it was no longer clouding out everything that was good. His journey had allowed him to overcome the one true evil in his life, misconception. It was misconception that had led him to try and conquer this world before, and it was misconception that had made him such a wounded, sad person. And now that his head was clear and he could see the big picture for the first time in his life, Mewtwo realized that this was the world he loved the most. This world, despite its evils, was filled with goodness.

As Mewtwo sat there pondering this, a sudden familiar energy approached him. He sensed it right away, it was a bubbly, happy little mind that had he had not felt for six years. He craned his neck upwards and saw a small pink bubble floating down out of the sky. He watched as it floated down and came to rest next to him. It popped, and out emerged the small pink cat Pokemon Mew. It smiled at him warmly like a mother smiles at her son.

"So you've finally got meaning to your life! That's great!" Mew said psychically to him, since it couldn't talk like he could. "You've finally gotten rid of all those nasty feelings that were weighting you down! Alright!" Mew squealed in delight.

"I went through the most amazing journey, enduring hells of emotional and physical pain, and I had some of the most amazing experiences of my life at the same time, all in the name of balancing myself." Mewtwo said psychically back to Mew.

"And now, you can see that life isn't meant to be spent only focusing on the negatives, but to be enjoyed and to pursue the betterment of yourself and others." Mew said.

Mewtwo sighed and looked out along the city. "I've better myself and the lives of countless others, but so many parts of my life have been miserable, I've been missing the fun." Mewtwo said.

"Well then , let's get some fun into it now!" Mew said happily, bobbing through the air. "Let me show you how flying should properly be enjoyed!"

Mewtwo smiled and agreed. He followed Mew off into the air and the two of them bobbed, dipped and weaved through the sky in the most whimsical fashion. And Mewtwo laughed with all of his heart alongside of Mew. As he finally found fulfillment and joy in his life, the green haired girl Ai smiled in happiness from another plane, glad to see her friend was finally truly happy.

**END**

A/N: Well, that was one helluva ending dontcha think? I'd really like to continue writing this series, but I have no ideas for a sequel to this. It's such an incredibly good closing to the entire thing that I might end up letting this be the end.

Let me tell you now though, it has been an honor and a privilege to share this work with you here on this website. I've worked on Crossing of the Paths for almost five years now, and the support that most of you have given to me has been wonderful. There's not a lot I can say to thank everyone who's supported me, so I'll just say this now in case that I don't write anything more on Crossing of the Paths; Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me, I owe you all so much on this story and I hope that you will check out any stories that I might post in the future. Thanks everyone, I'm glad I could share this with you. :)


End file.
